Push for Richmond property tax reassessments amid uncertainty around Cowichan case

'In fairness, I think it would be hard to argue that these properties have not had their values affected by this decision,' Paul Sullivan with Ryan Tax Firm told Global News.

A group of Richmond property owners has launched a campaign to reassess their property taxes amid the uncertainty surrounding the Cowichan court ruling.

“In fairness, I think it would be hard to argue that these properties have not had their values affected by this decision,” Paul Sullivan, principal and practice leader of advocacy and tax policy for Canada at Ryan Tax Firm, told Global News.

“And since value is used to collect property taxes, it would be only fair for us as tax agents to represent as many of them as possible in a mass property tax appeal and at least do something for them by lowering their property taxes through an appeal of the value.”

The federal and provincial governments are appealing the B.C. Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of the Quw’utsun Nation, or Cowichan Nation, that found it had “established Aboriginal title” to more than 5.7 square kilometres of land on the Fraser River in Richmond, south of Vancouver.

The City of Richmond has also joined the appeal.

“I think a lot of people are a bit unsure about what exactly has happened to their title of their properties and I think we can we can accept that, but all real estate is always valued based upon risk and so risk is the first determinants in how we value a property and whether that’s a leased property or it’s a redevelopment site,” Sullivan said.

“The certainty as to the future possibilities with property speak to risk, and when risk goes up, value goes down, and whether we can specifically prove the impact of the situation today, maybe not, but the risk has increased dramatically.”

B.C.’s annual assessment includes an Assessment to Sales Ratio (ASR), which is a measurement of how close the assessment of a sold property is to market value.