Assessment of residential property; “Normal repairs”; MCL 211.27(2); Effect of a transfer of ownership of the property; Uncapping; MCL 211.27a(3) & (4); Michigan Props., LLC v. Meridian Twp.; Reading statutes in pari materia; Bloomfield Twp. v. Kane; Const. 1963, art. 9, § 3; Toll Northville LTD v. Township of Northville; True cash value (TCV); Pontiac Country Club v. Waterford Twp.; The law of the case doctrine; Lenawee Cnty. v. Wagley; Whether the repairs had any bearing on the property’s TCV; Whether the Tax Tribunal (TT) had to calculate the TCV using a “before repairs” appraisal & an “after repairs” appraisal; Reliance on the State Tax Commission’s (STC) 2014 Bulletin No. 7; Whether the TT made its own independent determination of the TCV; Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. City of Warren; Rejection of the purchase price as determinative of the TCV; MCL 211.27(6); Review of TT decisions; Briggs Tax Serv., LLC v. Detroit Pub. Sch.; Deference to the TT’s interpretation of statutes it is charged with administering & enforcing; Moshier v. Whitewater Twp.; Taxable value (TV); General Property Tax Act (GPTA)

Concluding that petitioner-property owner failed to show that the TT committed an error of law or that competent, material, and substantial evidence did not support its decision, the court affirmed the TCV and TV for the 2016 tax year established by the TT. The court previously remanded the case to the TT. Petitioner asserted that, pursuant to MCL 211.27(2), the TT should have determined the TCV “without regard to any ‘normal repairs’ he made to the property after he purchased it in” 8/15. However, the court agreed with the TT that MCL 211.27(2) did not preclude the assessor from considering the impact of any “normal repairs” on the TCV for the 2016 tax year because there was a transfer of ownership in 2015. Because petitioner purchased it in 2015, the TV of the property for the 2016 tax year “was to be determined by its actual assessed value as of [12/31/15], without regard to any capping limitations. While MCL 211.27(2) does not expressly provide that it does not apply to ‘normal repairs’ performed during a year when ownership of property is transferred (i.e., the [TV] becomes uncapped), the statute must be read in conjunction with other provisions of the” GPTA and the Michigan Constitution. The court concluded that “the restriction on consideration of ‘normal repairs’ for purposes of calculating increases in TCV is intended to apply only while property is owned by the same party, and thus would not apply to repairs performed during a year in which ownership of the property is transferred.” Given that petitioner purchased it in 8/15, the property’s TV became uncapped between 8/15 and 12/31/15, and for the 2016 tax year, the assessor had to determine the TCV as of 12/31/15. The court rejected his reliance on the law of the case doctrine, noting that it had not addressed the effect of the property’s 2015 transfer of ownership on the TT’s “consideration of ‘normal repairs’ under MCL 211.27(2) for purposes of the 2016 tax year” in the prior appeal. It also rejected his claim that the TT had to calculate the “TCV using a ‘before repairs’ appraisal and an ‘after repairs’ appraisal[,]” finding his reliance on the STC’s 2014 Bulletin No. 7 misplaced. It further found that the TT made an independent determination of the TCV, rather than simply automatically accepting respondent’s valuation.