Sale of Vancouver home for $1M below assessed value cancelled after outstanding taxes paid

3018 Knight St. in Vancouver is seen in this image from BC Assessment.

A tax sale that would have seen an East Vancouver home purchased for $1 million less than its assessed value has been cancelled without the need for a planned intervention from city council.

The City of Vancouver confirmed to CTV News Thursday that the taxes owing on 3018 Knight St. had been paid by the Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia, which recently took over management of the estate of the property's former owner, who died in 2016.

"That payment satisfies the owner’s liability and voids the tax sale, thereby negating the need for any decision by council," the city said in an email.

The home was included in Vancouver's 2021 tax sale, where it sold for $601,000. The winning bidder paid the "upset price" – which city staff describe as "the sum of the delinquent taxes, penalty interest, and registration charges payable to the Land Title Office" – of $34,906.32 for the right to purchase the property.

Tax sale purchases don't go through right away, however. Instead, the property owner has 12 months to pay the upset price and "redeem" the property.

The vast majority of tax sales in Vancouver are redeemed, a fact that the city attributed, in part, to "extensive outreach" from city staff, "above and beyond what is minimally required" by legislation.

"Over the last 20 years, there has only been one instance where a property changed hands from a tax sale," the city said in its email.

What made 3018 Knight St. unusual is that it looked like the sale might go through, which was a problem because the city had been unable to confirm that the owner was aware of the sale.

In a report to city council ahead of a special meeting that was scheduled for Thursday, city staff recommended that councillors declare a "manifest error" in the tax sale process. 

Specifically, the error involved the city's statutory obligation to notify an owner of a tax sale. Because the owner died in 2016 – something the staff report indicates the city had only just learned – he couldn't have received proper notification that the tax sale was happening.

The home's assessed value for 2022 is $1,619,000, according to the staff report.

As with most homes in the City of Vancouver, the vast majority of that assessed value – some $1,325,000 – is attributed to the land, rather than the structure built on it.

BC Assessment lists the home as a duplex built in 1998, with a total of six bedrooms and four bathrooms across the two units. It sits on a 4,029 square foot lot on an arterial road that the city has prioritized for multi-family rental and strata buildings that meet affordability criteria. 

CTV News has reached out to the Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia to inquire about what will be done with the property going forward. This story will be updated if a response is received.