Section 70.17 - Lands, to whom assessed; buildings on exempt lands(1) Real property shall be entered in the name of the owner, if known to the assessor, otherwise to the occupant thereof if ascertainable, and otherwise without any name. The person holding the contract or certificate of sale of any real property contracted to be sold by the state, but not conveyed, shall be deemed the owner for such purpose. The undivided real estate of any deceased person may be entered to the heirs of such person without designating them by name. The real estate of an incorporated company shall be entered in the same manner as that of an individual.(2) All lands which have been or may be contracted for sale by any county shall be assessed and taxed to the parties contracting therefor.(3) Beginning with the property tax assessments as of January 1, 2024, manufactured and mobile homes, not otherwise exempt from taxation under s. 66.0435 (3), buildings, improvements, and fixtures on leased lands, buildings, improvements, and fixtures on exempt lands, buildings, improvements, and fixtures on forest croplands, and buildings, improvements, and fixtures on managed forest lands shall be assessed as real property. If buildings, improvements, and fixtures, but not the underlying land, are leased to a person other than the landowner or if the buildings, improvements, and fixtures are owned by a person other than the landowner, the assessor may create a separate tax parcel for the buildings, improvements, and fixtures and assess the buildings, improvements, and fixtures as real property to the owner of the buildings, improvements, and fixtures. The assessor may also create a tax parcel, as provided under s. 70.27, for buildings, improvements, and fixtures on exempt lands, buildings, improvements, and fixtures on forest croplands, and buildings, improvements, and fixtures on managed forest lands and assess the buildings, improvements, and fixtures as real property to the owner of the buildings, improvements, and fixtures. For purposes of this subsection, "buildings, improvements, and fixtures" does not include any property defined in s. 70.04.Amended by Acts 2023 ch, 12,s 84, eff. 6/22/2023.Amended by Acts 2023 ch, 12,s 83, eff. 6/22/2023. The term "leased lands" should be construed broadly to include a number of situations in which the occupier of land not owned by him or her places improvements on the land; a formal lease is not required. Town of Menominee v. Skubitz, 53 Wis. 2d 430, 192 N.W.2d 887 (1972). The tax lister may, but is not required to, change the ownership designation on joint property on the basis of notification other than formal procedures. 80 Atty. Gen. 73.