Property Assessment Appeal Rates Fall Below One Percent

VICTORIA, March 31, 2014 /CNW/ - British Columbian property owners are consistently satisfied with their assessments as evidenced by BC Assessment's release of the 2014 Assessment Roll appeal rates.

For 2014, a total of 17,874 property assessments were appealed which equates to about 0.91 percent of the approximately 1.95 million total properties on the 2014 Assessment Roll. This low rate of appeals is consistent with past years and marks a notable overall reduction since 2010.

Property Folios Appeal Rates	2014	2013	2012	2011		2010
Total Number of Properties Appealed	17,874	23,847	23,438	31,296		27,598
% of Total Properties Appealed from Total Property Count*	0.91%	1.2%	1.2%	1.6%		1.5%

*Total number of properties in British Columbia is approximately 1.95 million.

Any person is entitled to file a Notice of Complaint (or appeal) about an assessment on the grounds set out in Section 32 of the Assessment Act and to have that assessment reviewed by an independent Property Assessment Review Panel. Year to year, well over 98 per cent of property owners consistently accept their property assessments without proceeding to a formal, independent review of their assessments.

BC Assessment values over 1.95 million properties in nine separate property classes. Upon revisions decided by the Property Assessment Review Panels, the value of all real estate on the annual provincial assessment roll is $1,139,951,152,891 ($1.14 trillion) for 2014, an increase of 1.17 percent from 2013.  

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SOURCE: BC Assessment

Media contact: Tim Morrison, A/ Communications Manager, BC Assessment, Tel. [phone] Ext. 00251