Tax first, ask questions later

Owner was deceased and was not adequately notified of the impending sale.

Your City staff at work:

1. If three tax notifications don't work, don't send anyone from the City to investigate. Keep doing the same thing for 5 years in a row.

2. Even in death, the City taxes you and doesn't figure out you're dead until 6 years later.

3. The City is willing to lose over $1,000,000 on property evaluation during a tax auction.

Special Council Meeting Nov 3rd at 1 PM

The agenda for this meeting is here:

Will this be live-streamed?

Will someone come up with a motion to get staff to appropriately investigate why a property has delinquent taxes for 5 years before selling it?

Read the report yourself and submit comments to Council.

Property Tax Sale Manifest Error

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council cancel the sale of a property known as 3018 Knight Street, Vancouver, BC

REPORT SUMMARY

Council should declare a manifest error in a tax sale because the tax sale proceeded when the Owner was deceased and was not adequately notified of the impending sale.

Strategic Analysis

The City last conducted its annual tax sale on November 10, 2021. The tax sale included a property owned by William Burgess (the “Owner”), located at 3018 Knight Street, Vancouver, BC (the “Property”).

The Owner has been the registered owner of the Property since 1992. The assessed value of the Property in 2022 is $1,619,000.00.

The tax sale purchaser bid $601,000 for the Property. The amount paid to the City (the “upset price”) was $34,906.32. The difference between the bid price and the upset price is only payable if the Property is not redeemed or the sale is not cancelled.

The Owner has not paid any City taxes on the Property since 2016. The Property appears to be abandoned. The City has attempted to deliver various notices and messages to the Owner, both leading up to and after the tax sale in November 2021, but has no confirmation that it has succeeded.

The City has had no confirmed communication with the Owner in 6 years.

The Public Guardian and Trustee (“PGT”) has recently informed City staff that the Owner is deceased and has been deceased since 2016. The City has been unable to obtain a death certificate, but has no reason to disbelieve the PGT. The Owner’s death amounts to a manifest error because the various mandatory notices in advance of the tax sale could not have been received. This includes two statutorily required warnings, under sections 406 and 407 of Vancouver Charter that the property was to be sold for taxes.

The Owner has been unresponsive to other tax matters as well. The Property has been subject to the City’s Empty Homes Tax because of a failure to file a declaration. Several liens on the title show the Property has also been subject to BC’s Speculation and Vacancy Tax.

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This problem is not specific to Vancouver. Penticton went through the same thing in 2021, selling the home of a living mentally incapable person for 36% of its assessed value without contacting the Public Trustee first . At least the City of Vancouver was going for 37% of assessed value.

The City of Penticton accepted the recommendations from the Ombudsperson of British Columbia - five to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and one to the City of Penticton.

Specifically:

1. Develop plain language template letters for tax sales;

2. Develop guidelines to notify a property owner before a tax sale occurs;

3. Amend the Local Government Act to require a municipality to provide notice by registered mail or personal service before a tax sale;

4. Examine whether the Local Government Act should establish a starting price at auction that reflects the assessed value of a property;

5. Issue best practice guidelines about how municipalities are to protect vulnerable property owners within the tax sale scheme; and,

6. Compensate Ms. Wilson in the amount of $140,922.88.

The source of the Infographic is here.