Floating mansion evades taxes, because it’s a boat
Arkup was ruled to be a boat, not a structure, in 2022. Miami-Dade County has stopped its fight to collect property taxes on a Miami Beach houseboat.
According to the Miami Herald, the property appraiser’s office has dropped its effort to declare the Arkup #1 a ‘floating structure’. This means the boat’s owner won’t have to pay a tax bill of nearly $120,000.
The rectangle-shaped houseboat, anchored off owner Jonathan Brown’s property, includes a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, gym space and a patio.
The Arkup was being held-up as an eco-friendly houseboat which could serve as a model to help ease the world’s housing crunch.
Macknight International’s attorneys insisted that the Arkup was a boat, pointing out that it is registered with the US Coast Guard and can travel the seas at five knots per hour. The boat’s owner even hosted three representatives from the Property Appraiser’s Office for a cruise on Biscayne Bay, to show its nautical capabilities.
The Arkup ‘has a means of self-locomotion and is equipped with the necessary equipment for boating, such as the required lighting, horns, radios, directional aids, and safety features’, according to a settlement agreement.
This comes as Vicastel Project Management calls for standardisation of floating buildings in Marine Industry News, as the design and build of these innovative buildings poses a unique set of challenges.
