Disputing Property Tax Assessment

[Sheva #7]

Has anyone tried it and been successful? What is the process usually and any tips/hints are appreciated.

I heard that the best way is to find a property in your neighborhood that is similar but has sold recently for less than the property assessment document says. If this is true, anyone know where I can find this type of information usually?

thanks!

[TheAlpineOracle]

Timely thread. I haven't received mine yet, but a buddy in my neighbourhood had the value of his property increased by over 20%. The value sits about $250,000 over what every house in his neighborhood is selling for.

[me_dennis]

We've successfully appealed our property assessment. We purchased our house a month before we got the property assessment, and yet they assessed the property value at $100K + more than what we paid.

If you contact any realtor (including CP's realtor Realtor 1 Travis Munroe), they can provide you with a list of recently sold in the area. We compiled a list of similar properties based on square footage, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, and area.

We used a $/sqft metric to bring to the appeal meeting. The City argued that the $/sqft metric was not a valid metric, as there were other variables that were considered. I believe they also took into account the lot size, the rating of the property (good, average, etc) among others.

In the end, the appeal board agreed that since we just bought the house a month prior, the best representation of "fair market value" was the price that we paid, so they reduced our property value to what we paid, which resulted in $400 savings in our property tax for the year.

[mrkajz44]

Just a reminder that the assessment is as at July 1, 2016, so comparing to prices today is not exactly correct. I'm sure the movement between July 2016 and now is not that much, but it's something to consider.

I have no real advice on the actual process, but I have heard of people doing these and winning. The big downside is the new value doesn't "roll" into the next year, so you'll have to continue disputing year after year.

[Fuzz]

Go to the city property assessment website, and create an account. From there, you can find your property, and browse a map. On the map there are green dots. Click on these, as they are recently sold properties to determine your property value. You will then be presented with a list of sale prices, and adjusted prices(since the sale date doesn't correspond to the assessment date). This is the best place to start, and you don't need a realtor to get the sale prices. Great for snooping, too!

[Canehdianman]

In the same boat, except I bought my house a month after the July date (early August).

Appraised value is 65k higher than what we paid for it.

Am I assuming that it will be pretty much a slam dunk to have it reduced to what we paid? After all, the best indication of "fair market value" would be what two arms-length people decided was a fair price.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

In the same boat, except I bought my house a month after the July date (early August).

Appraised value is 65k higher than what we paid for it.

Am I assuming that it will be pretty much a slam dunk to have it reduced to what we paid? After all, the best indication of "fair market value" would be what two arms-length people decided was a fair price.

Not necessarily. In 2014 I bought a house close to the July 1 assessment date, and the assessed value was about $200,000 higher than the purchase price. They basically told me I got a good deal, which was true. All the houses on my block have the same lot size. Every house gets the same valuation for land, and the building part is different. My house had a very small building assessment, and the land assessment was higher than the purchase price. They weren't about to lower the land assessment for every single house on the block, then bump up their building assessment, just because I paid less than assessed value. The building part is basically a plug after they determine the land and the total assessment.

[troutman]

My blog from Jan 2016:
http://nwcalgarylaw.com/calgary-prop...-march-7-2016/

Annually in early January, the City of Calgary provides all property owners with a Property Assessment, estimating the market value of the property as of July 1st of the previous year. The Assessment is used by the City in calculating the property taxes for each property owner.

The Assessment notice is different than the tax bill which is mailed in May. The notice allows for a Review Period so that property owners can review the accuracy of their assessment.

Each year you should review your notice to see that the City information on your property is accurate, and that the assessment is a reasonable estimate of the market value (especially as it relates to similar properties).

If you believe your Assessment is not accurate, contact the City of Calgary before March 7, 2016.

http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/Assessment...ssessment.aspx

403-268-2888 (Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)

http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/Assessment...ssessment.aspx

If, after speaking with an assessor, you are still not satisfied, you may file a formal complaint with the Assessment Review Board and have them review your assessment. This can only be done during the Customer Review Period.

https://arb.calgary.ca/eCourtPublicCarb/

ePortal allows for complainants to file and access their assessment complaint online

[MoneyGuy]

I've sat on an assessment review board (not Calgary's) if I can be of any help.

[Fuzz]

What is the one surefire way to get your assessment reduced? I mean their must be a secret word or something, right?

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What is the one surefire way to get your assessment reduced? I mean their must be a secret word or something, right?

Try sending a truculent tweet to Nenshi.

[Ashartus]

I appealed successfully, but it was because the description of the property was not accurate (it said the basement was fully developed but it wasn't at the time). I think it's a lot harder to appeal based purely on value unless you have a strong case.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

Not necessarily. In 2014 I bought a house close to the July 1 assessment date, and the assessed value was about $200,000 higher than the purchase price. They basically told me I got a good deal, which was true. All the houses on my block have the same lot size. Every house gets the same valuation for land, and the building part is different. My house had a very small building assessment, and the land assessment was higher than the purchase price. They weren't about to lower the land assessment for every single house on the block, then bump up their building assessment, just because I paid less than assessed value. The building part is basically a plug after they determine the land and the total assessment.

Was this in Alberta? I don't recall ever seeing land and building values, and I've successfully fought city of calgary assessments before. Basically, use comps. If it's totally egregious, you'll win.

Be polite.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Was this in Alberta? I don't recall ever seeing land and building values, and I've successfully fought city of calgary assessments before. Basically, use comps. If it's totally egregious, you'll win.

Be polite.

The house is in Vancouver. I won a dispute on my townhome in 2010, but lost my dispute on my house in 2015. This year the assessed value of almost everything went up so much across the Lower Mainland, that they sent out notices at the end of 2016 to tell people they were about to get some bad news, and to start saving. My assessed land value went up 39%, which is probably about what it's worth. There was no building on my property in 2015, so my building increase was due to construction. I might dispute the building portion, as the assessed value of my WIP is about $65,000 higher than the actual costs. That seems fairly easy to prove.

[Firebot]

I appealed last year after buying my townhouse and having the assessment come in at 50000$ more than I purchased. I had a strong case however, I argued that I purchased at 50000$ less and should get it for closer to my purchase price. I was contacted shortly after, and not only did they agree with me, she also verified the MLS listing photos which described it as fully renovated but the photos did not show this as such, and she offered to lower it to 70000$ less instead. While it is quite nice and recently renovated, the previous owner's atrocious choice of colours and furniture made it look like a 40 year old renovation on the photos (we almost didn't even look at the place ourselves due to the photos)

I actually got 70000$ knocked off instead of 50000$ without asking. They tend to be pretty fair.

[oilyfan]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Go to the city property assessment website, and create an account. From there, you can find your property, and browse a map. On the map there are green dots. Click on these, as they are recently sold properties to determine your property value. You will then be presented with a list of sale prices, and adjusted prices(since the sale date doesn't correspond to the assessment date). This is the best place to start, and you don't need a realtor to get the sale prices. Great for snooping, too!

I followed your instructions, I can browse the map but dont see any green dots. I can click on individual house in my neighbourhood but it just shows assessed value. Am I looking at the wrong screen? City of Calgary Assessement Search by Map

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

I followed your instructions, I can browse the map but dont see any green dots. I can click on individual house in my neighbourhood but it just shows assessed value. Am I looking at the wrong screen? City of Calgary Assessement Search by Map

Did you create an account and sign in, or just click "public access"? It won't work on the public access site. I just noticed you also have to zoom all the way in to get green dots to appear.

[oilyfan]

Yes I signed up for an account and signed in using the citizen account. I went into other neighbourhoods to see if I was missing anything. No green dots. Used IE instead of chrome, no green dots.

[Fuzz]

That's odd. And you zoomed all the way in? I tried it a couple times and had no problems in Firefox. Haven't tried other browser though.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

Yes I signed up for an account and signed in using the citizen account. I went into other neighbourhoods to see if I was missing anything. No green dots. Used IE instead of chrome, no green dots.

click on your roll number, then click on property map on the right side.

Should show you your house with green dots around it for recent sales.