Candlewood Landing Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Town of New Milford
| Decision Date | 14 January 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 15383,15383 |
| Citation | 44 Conn.App. 107,686 A.2d 1007 |
| Court | Connecticut Court of Appeals |
| Parties | CANDLEWOOD LANDING CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., v. TOWN OF NEW MILFORD. |
Monte E. Frank, Danbury, with whom was David L. Gropins, for appellant (plaintiff).
Kim E. Nolan, Danbury, with whom, on the brief, was Pamela D. Siemon, for appellee (defendant).
Before EDWARD Y. O'CONNELL, HEIMAN and STOUGHTON, JJ.
The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether a condominium association has standing to appeal a municipal tax assessment of the common areas of a condominium. 1 The plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly granted the defendant's motion to dismiss for lack of aggrievement. We reverse the judgment of the trial court.
The record discloses the following facts. The plaintiff Candlewood Landing Condominium Association, Inc. (association), is a nonstock Connecticut corporation organized pursuant to General Statutes § 47-243. 2 The association consists of the owners of the thirteen units of the Candlewood Landing condominiums. In addition to their units, members of the association each own an undivided 7.692 percent interest in the common elements of the condominium.
On October 1, 1993, the town of New Milford assessed the condominium's units and the common elements. The plaintiff appealed that assessment to the board of tax review on behalf of the unit owners. The board of tax review reduced the assessed value of the units but refused to reduce the assessment of the common elements. The association appealed to the Superior Court from the board of tax review's decision. The trial court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss for lack of aggrievement and the association appealed to this court.
We are asked to construe various sections of the Common Interest Ownership Act, General Statutes §§ 47-200 through 47-295. It is undisputed that the plaintiff recorded the necessary declaration to bring itself within the ambit of the act. 3 A common interest community is defined as "real property described in a declaration with respect to which a person, by virtue of his ownership of a unit, is obligated to pay for (A) real property taxes on, (B) insurance premiums on, (C) maintenance of, or (D) improvement of, any other real estate other than that unit described in the declaration." General Statutes § 47-202(7).
The act defines a condominium as General Statutes § 47-202(8). In a condominium, the term common elements means "all portions of the common interest community other than the units." General Statutes § 47-202(4). "It is elementary to say that what is not a unit is a common element, if it is within the real estate owned by the condominium association." Grey v. Coastal States Holding Co., 22 Conn.App. 497, 503, 578 A.2d 1080, cert. denied, 216 Conn. 817, 580 A.2d 57 (1990). Each unit owner owns an undivided fractional interest in the common elements.
The taxing scheme for condominiums is established by General Statutes § 47-204(b)(2) as follows: "[E]ach unit shall be separately taxed and assessed, and no separate tax or assessment may be rendered against any common elements...." Included in the unit owner's tax assessment is his fractional share of the common elements. The trial court reasoned that because the common elements are taxed to the individual unit owners, only the unit owners may appeal the assessments. This would be a reasonable interpretation if there were no other relevant statutes.
The act, however, confers on a condominium association the power to "[i]nstitute, defend or intervene in litigation or administrative proceedings in its own name on behalf of itself or two or more unit owners on matters affecting the common interest community." General Statutes § 47-244(a)(4). Thus, the question immediately before us is whether § 47-244(a)(4) includes the right to take tax appeals on behalf of unit owners.
The objective of statutory construction is to give effect to the intended purpose of the legislation. State v. Spears, 234 Conn. 78, 86, 662 A.2d 80, cert. denied --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 565, 133 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). If the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, courts need look no further than the words used because courts assume that the language expresses legislative intent. Office of Consumer Counsel v. Dept. of Public Utility Control, 234 Conn. 624, 646, 662 A.2d 1251 (1995). Common sense must be used and courts will assume that the legislature intended to accomplish a reasonable and rational result. King v. Board of Education, 203 Conn. 324, 332-33, 524 A.2d 1131 (1987). We must presume that each sentence, clause and phrase in a public act has a purpose and that the legislature did not intend to enact a meaningless law. Turner v. Turner, 219 Conn. 703, 713, 595 A.2d 297 (1991). Section 47-244(a)(4) would be meaningless if we agreed with the trial court that, despite the statute's clear terminology, an association lacked standing to appeal a tax assessment on a condominium's common elements.
Furthermore, § 47-244(a)(4) contains no exceptions or limitations on a condominium association's authority to act on behalf of the unit owners as long as at least two unit owners agree. If we affirmed the trial court we would be effectively amending § 47-244(a)(4) by adding a clause to the effect that, except for litigation pertaining to tax appeals, a condominium association may act in litigation and administrative...
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