City of Vancouver set to put properties up for auction
City will put 28 properties up for auction today — but don’t expect to score a fantastic bargain
VANCOUVER — Among the Vancouver building owners who together owe $600,000 in unpaid property taxes is a Shaughnessy-area B&B that boasted of a busy summer.
“A big thank you to all our wonderful guests who helped Hycroft Suites (and our other property, Granville House B&B) obtain an amazing occupancy rate of 91 per cent in August … 2015!” Hycroft Suites owners Pamela and Randall Vogel posted on Facebook.
The owners of the $1.2-million guest house at 1248 West 15th Ave. and a $1.1-million residence next door as of Tuesday owed more than $33,000 in taxes dating back to 2012, according to the 2015 list of properties the city is to offer for public auction today.
Hycroft Suites is among 28 properties, 11 of which are condo suites, owing between $3,000 and $114,000 in back taxes assessed between 2012 and 2015. The buildings, which include businesses and residences, are scattered around the city — downtown, Gastown, East Vancouver, Coal Harbour, Kitsilano, the West Side and Point Grey.
The assessed values for the buildings are between $3 million and $300,000.
Pamela Vogel would say only: “It [Hycroft Suites] won’t be sold,” and declined further comment.
The city auctions the properties with three years of unpaid taxes in a yearly “tax sale” to recoup the money, said Esther Lee, financial services director.
The bidding starts at the “upset price” — taxes owed in 2012 plus five per cent of that amount and land title fees — and goes up as high as bidders are willing to pay.
Successful bidders must pay the upset price by noon Friday in cash, debit card, certified cheque or money order as a deposit, but owners then have a year to pay the bill and keep their house, which happens “99.99 per cent of the time,” said Lee.
“I’ve been here 15 years and it’s only happened once or twice” that the owner let the property go for the bid price, she said. “It wasn’t his primary residence and he saved himself the real-estate commission” for the sale.”
When the owners pay off their tax bills, the successful bidders get their deposit plus six per cent interest, paid by the owner.
“They [the bidders] are basically investing their money for six per cent interest” for up to a year, Lee said. “But you never know how long it will take for the owner to pay off the taxes.”
The properties sell at anywhere from 75 per cent to more than 100 per cent of the previous year’s assessed value, depending on the market, she said.
Bidders must purchase the properties sight unseen, and Lee stressed it’s not a chance to score a great deal.
“It’s not like we’re selling properties for $10,000, so if you can make that clear in your article, we’d appreciate that,” she said.
The auction is open to the public and there’s room for 200 people. It’s usually filled to capacity, but only a few bid, Lee said.
The list is posted a week before the sale and this year’s included 28 buildings, compared with 25 last year and 22 in 2013, and has been whittled down to 19 in the week since it was published.
Why owners let their taxes slide is anybody’s guess. “We don’t speculate on that,” Lee said.