The owner path

The criterion, as the notice words it: The owner of the property. If the property is your primary residence it is exempt, and the notice means only that DOF's records do not reflect that.

What does DOF look at?

The residency indicators DOF names include the address on state or federal income tax returns, receipt of residency-based benefits, and majority-of-days occupancy. The statutory list is including but not limited to, so no single item settles the question and none of them is a checkbox.

That last one, majority of days, is the one owners of a second property tend to fail on paper even when they pass in life. The documents that speak to it are the ones a household produces anyway: statements, service accounts, registrations that stay put.

The documents

• The most recent federal or state income tax return showing the address. One return can carry the base set alone.
• Or a driver's license or other DMV-issued identification: since the August 3, 2026 emergency amendment it carries the base set on its own.
• If neither exists: a voter identification card, plus one other proof that the property is the primary residence.

They have to point at the same address to be worth sending. How does the file go together? The full checklist is a longer subject than this page.

Owning it is not the same as being on this path

If you own the unit and somebody else lives there, this is not your criterion. A tenant or subtenant is criterion two. An immediate family member is criterion four. If the unit is held through an LLC, a corporation, a partnership, or a trust, the owner criterion is not the one to argue at all: see majority interest and trust.