B.C. Assessment Authority warns homeowners

B.C. Assessment has sent warning letters to 67,000 British Columbia homeowners letting them know to expect outsized increases in their 2018 property assessments ahead of issuing the documents starting Jan. 1. The number represents a decrease from 82,000 advance-notification letters, as the agency calls them, sent out in 2016 but is the third year in a row that it has sent out tens-ofthousands more than in years past as property markets have waxed and waned. ” (Assessment-values) reflect market conditions,” said assessor Tina Ireland, “and the markets are not as strong this year as they were last year, which would result in a few less letters than last year.” However, those numbers compare with 37,000 letters in 2015 and 24,000 in 2014. One difference this year is that condo owners, in a segment of the market where first-time buyers are scrambling to get in, can expect to see assessments soar 10 to 30 per cent compared with single-family homeowners. “The majority of letters are going to strata (property) owners because that’s were the market (was) the most robust as of July 1,” Ireland said. Relatively speaking, values were “more stable” for houses in Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby and the North Shore. In other regions, however, such as the Fraser Valley, Okanagan and Vancouver Island, more detached homeowners will see increases of 10 to 20 per cent. Higher-than-average assessment increases have consequences in potentially higher property bills because municipalities and other taxing authorities such as TransLink, use average increases to set property-tax rates. Using the average to adjust property-tax rates winds up shifting more of the overall tax burden to homeowners who see dramatically bigger increases in their properties’ assessment. Those escalating assessments, particularly for owners in the condominium market, are a concern to municipal governments, said Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie. “It runs counter to our efforts to create affordable housing by increasing more supply,” Louie said. Vancouver allows property owners to average dramatic increases in their tax bills over a couple of years to smooth out the impact of tax spikes, Louie said. Louie argued that the city is also trying to accommodate people who want to live in the city through its empty-homes tax and stricter regulations on short-term rental services such as Airbnb. So it is concerning when rising assessments help to crimp affordability. Louie said the province could help Metro Vancouver municipalities by adjusting the way that it uses property taxes to fund school operations. He argued that under the current method, Vancouver homeowners wind up paying more into the provincial school budget than the Vancouver school board winds up getting back in operating funding, for example. “I think there needs to be the recognition that Metro Vancouver, as a hot market, is different from the rest of the province,” Louie said. Lower Mainland homeowners did receive the bulk of advancenotification letters, Ireland said. The Vancouver assessment office, which includes the North Shore and municipalities on the north side of the Fraser River, sent out 24,564 of the letters or 36 per cent. Surrey’s assessment office, which includes Richmond Delta, sent out 17,825 of the letters. The Abbotsford office sent out the third biggest grouping at 8,511. All together, the three regions account for 76 per cent of the warnings. Ireland said homeowners will start receiving their official assessment notices in the first week of January. Those who have registered to receive the document electronically will get it by email just after midnight Dec. 31, but the cutoff to register was Dec. 1. Otherwise, all new assessment data will go live on B.C. Assessment’s website starting Jan. 2 with hard-copy notices going into the mail the same week. Ireland encouraged anyone who has received one of the warning letters who has questions about their increase to contact B.C. Assessment for a more detailed explanation. Once they have official notices in January homeowners will have the option to appeal.