News & Publications Results

Lawson Lundell is pleased to welcome Peter M. Tolensky as a partner to the Firm.

In British Columbia, as elsewhere, there exists a tension between, on the one hand, the need to disclose sufficient information to complete the roll and to appeal assessments, and on the other hand, the need to protect commercially sensitive information from unnecessary and potentially harmful exposure to competitors. It has generally fallen to the Property Assessment Appeal Board to attempt to strike the balance between these competing interests.

The development of transportation infrastructure in the Lower Mainland depends on expropriation of private property. Practitioners should have a basic understanding of the process to answer typical questions clients ask when faced with the loss of property rights.

A hallmark of the assessment and taxation of property in B.C. is the principle of equity: taxing authorities must deal even-handedly with all taxpayers in a municipality or rural area, and all taxpayers within a class must be treated in the same way. That is, properties with identifiable, similar attributes within a class should be assessed for taxation, e.g., classified, valued and subject to exemptions from assessment and taxation consistently, within a municipality or rural area.

An overview of key legislative changes and legal developments relating to property tax in British Columbia in 2007, prepared for the National Valuation and Legal Symposium Cross-Canada Legal Panel.

For many years, parties have created various legal tools to grant others the right to use a portion of their lands. Prior to the imposition of statutory controls on the subdivision and leasing of land, this could simply be accomplished by the property owner granting exclusive possession over a portion of their land to a tenant by way of a lease. In many situations, rather than a fee simple or leasehold subdivision, the goals of the parties can be achieved by the granting of an easement in favour of one party by the other.

Hotel development and financing has always been a challenging area of real estate development. Conventional real estate lenders do not like the long time it takes for a new hotel to build a customer base and become profitable. Combined with cyclical tourism markets and smaller resale markets, many lenders are not keen to service this market. One principle source of financing in recent years is the development of strata hotels and fractional ownership structures that have achieved various degrees of success.

A brief overview of topical issues relating to British Columbia property assessment and taxation, including the parking site tax, prepared for the Canadian Property Tax Association Western Chapter 2006 Education Seminar Legal Panel.

An overview of legislative changes and caselaw developments in British Columbia property assessment and taxation in the past year. The review is not intended to be exhaustive, but instead to provide a cross-section of topical cases which may be of interest both to the B.C. chapter and the national membership. The focus lies on stated case decisions.

A hallmark of the assessment and taxation of property in B.C. is the principle of equity: taxing authorities must deal even-handedly with all taxpayers in a municipality or rural area, and all taxpayers within a class must be treated in the same way. This is a brief overview of the statutory basis of duties and powers of the Assessor and the Board in the context of recent developments in the case law concerning the application of equity in assessments, and some practical observations on the use of equity in an assessment appeal.

A brief overview of the principles of classification of industrial properties in the context of a review of recent classification decisions. Under s. 19(14) of the B.C. Assessment Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 20 and the Prescribed Classes of Property Regulation (B.C. Reg. 438/81), real property in B.C. is classified for the purposes of assessment and taxation into one or more of eight property classes.

Article based on an interview with Edward L. Wilson which appeared in the Volume 13, Number 2 June 2004 issue of The Scrivener, which is published quarterly by The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia.

The themes in this paper are: (1) the "legislative" nature of the MIPS / EPG manuals, how that is significant in appeals to the Board, and the importance of stakeholder input before they are implemented; (2) the timing of legislated changes to MIPS / EPG manuals, and problems that can arise when changes to these manuals are officially given to manual subscribers after appeal dates have passed; and (3)interesting questions that arise from s.15 and s.16 information requests and how they fit into the scheme of a consultative process.

The Builders Lien Act (Bill 38) (the “Act”) was brought into force on February 1, 1998 and replaced the former builders lien legislation in force in the Province. The Act significantly changed previous existing construction practice and must be understood by anyone working in the construction industry in British Columbia. This article is a summary of certain features of the Act and is intended to serve as a basic overview of its operation.

Program of speakers at the Insight Conference on Commercial Real Estate Law held in Vancouver on June 17-18, 2003.

Bare trusts (a legal structure that facilitates the division of the beneficial and legal ownership) are increasingly being used when investors acquire investment properties as they provide a number of significant advantages. Anyone considering purchasing an apartment building should fully examine the potential use of a bare trust arrangement.

A comment from the legal perspective on the treatment of intangible and excess costs in property assessment in British Columbia. This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive review of all such costs in assessment, but is instead a general overview of what the author considers to be the most topical issues facing assessors and B.C. taxpayers (particularly those with industrial and utilities properties) today.

In a recent decision of the B.C. Court of Appeal, the extent of lien rights given to architects and engineers under the Builders Lien Act (the “Act”) was considered. The Court held that despite the 1998 additions to the Act whereby architects and engineers were expressly identified as potential lien claimants under the Act, such lien rights are contingent upon the commencement of construction of an improvement and do not accrue for a project that does not materialize.

This paper focuses on the changes in condominium law that result in an increased work load on strata property agents, those that have the potential of increasing the liability of strata property agents in an increasing litigious world, and the steps that strata property agents or their lawyers should take to address those issues.

General comments on landlords' remedies, and a review of the special considerations which arise when a tenant is insolvent or bankrupt. Because of the effect of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada) and the Commercial Tenancy Act (BC), a landlord is unable to exercise many of the remedies otherwise available to it.