Lost application blamed for New Westminster home nearly doubling in assessed value

New West and Queensborough are pictured from the air in spring 2019. (Pete Cline / CTV News Vancouver)

A pair of New Westminster homeowners faced significantly higher property tax bills this year after their property nearly doubled in value in its latest assessment.

Bakhso and Avtar S. Disanjh submitted an appeal of the assessed value of their property on Jardine Street in the city's Queensborough neighbourhood to the province's Property Assessment Appeal Board. In it, they argued that the 22,251-square-foot lot should qualify for relief under Section 19(8) of the Assessment Act.

"Section 19(8) is intended to provide tax relief for long-term owners who occupy properties that would otherwise be assessed at higher values based on a higher use, such as subdivision," wrote PAAB panel chair Steven Guthrie in his decision on the matter, which was issued Thursday. 

"Specifically, Section 19(8) says that actual value for the assessment: 'Must be determined taking into consideration only the actual use of the land and improvements that comprise the eligible residential property and not taking into consideration any other use to which the land or improvements could be put.'"

Because of the size of the lot, the Dianjh property was assessed at $2,635,000 for 2022, nearly double its 2021 assessed value of $1,400,300. 

Most of the other properties on the block are assessed in the $1.4 million range – despite having similar lot sizes – because of Section 19(8).

In their appeal, the pair said they mailed their application for relief to BC Assessment on Sept. 29, 2021, and suggested that it may have been lost by Canada Post.

Guthrie's decision notes that BC Assessment sent the homeowners two letters with an application – one on Sept. 23, 2021 and another on Nov. 19 of that year.

"The assessor issued a 2022 assessment for the subject (property) on the assumption the subject qualified for Section 19(8)," Guthrie wrote. "The assessor says, when the application was not received, on Feb. 24, 2022, they sent a notice of a (Property Assessment) Review Panel hearing for March 8, 2022."

The owners still could have qualified for relief if they had submitted their application by March 15, 2022, the panel chair wrote, noting that that didn't happen. The pair said they did not receive the notice of the review panel hearing until after it had already taken place, at which point the deadline had already passed.

Guthrie cited previous PAAB decisions on Section 19(8) that determined the key question is not whether the applicants filled out or sent an application, but whether it was received by BC Assessment.

"Given the lack of evidence on receipt of the application and these actions by BC Assessment, I find that it is more likely than not that the assessor did not receive the application by the deadline," Guthrie wrote, concluding that the property did not qualify for Section 19(8) this year and the assessed value should stand.