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You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill - Environmental Impacts On Property Assessments #2

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Services for Real Estate Pros with My Time Is My Own

"YOUR" Property Tax Bill - Environmental Impacts On Property Assessments #2

In a comment on her post Ruling Says Wind Farms Affect Property Values Marg Scheben-Edey wondered

"how this case will be applied in other situations. Again, is it a percentage or a specific dollar value"

 

If the same conditions exist elsewhere or for another property adjacent to this one it should be the same percentage.

Years ago when the corner super mailbox first arrived on the scene there was an appeal that was successful and gained a reduction based on the detrimental affects the mailbox had on the value of the property it sat on. This reduction ended up being granted across the province to every home that had a super mailbox.

A few years ago the simple mention that a reduction had been granted just a few days earlier based on a propertiy being affected by wetlands was enough to gain the same reduction for another property under appeal to the board. This was a reduction that the Regional Assessment Office refused to grant when the wetland situation was mentioned in earlier talks with them prior to the hearing.

In a case in Oshawa that I was involved in that went to the OMB the Board pushed the the Regional Assessment Office into settling with us. While not the only reductions we received the broadest part of the reductions granted were based on the properties proximity to a closed industrial dump. The closer to the dump the greater the reduction. Being a new subdivision the reduction should also have been applied to homes yet to be built based on their proximity to the dump.

The reductions gained would have also been applied across both subdivisions impacted by the settlement for the following year. As you can see environmental or any other issue that affects the "Market" Value should also affect the assessed value.

If you are ever involved in an appeal and are successful at the hearing (where the board makes an immediate decision) request written reasons for the reduction thus ensuring a record that is available for others to use in similar instances.

 

Stay Tuned --- . 

Earlier posts in the series

You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill - Environmental Impacts On Property Assessments
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill - The 2010 draft budget goes before council today
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill - Your Assessment Notice May Have been In The Mail
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- Should Municipal Government Be Scrapped
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- One Alternative
 
You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- My Prescription Provided Pain Relief
 You and "YOUR" Propertry Tax Bill -- Assessment Errors Can Be Costly
 Understanding Residential Property Assessment in Ontario - #7 in a series on property taxes
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- Is Your Assessment Fair and Equitable 
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- OUCH!!!!!
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- Your Assessment Notice Is In The Mail
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- Mill Rate Idiosyncrasy's
 You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- Is Current Value Assessment (CVA) A Better Way? 
 
You and "YOUR" Property Tax Bill -- Who Takes The Biggest Bite?

It will be interesting to watch what happens to 

 "Your" Property Tax Bill

With province wide re-assessment affecting
your 2010 property tax bill.

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Posts on Property Assessment and Taxation are for informational purposes only please read the  CAVEAT

Comments(4)

FN LN
Toronto, ON

Barrie - It seems that you are saying that written reasons for decisions by the appeals group can be used as precedents in other similar cases.  Is that correct?  Are such precendents binding in other cases?

Feb 17, 2010 04:27 PM
Brian Madigan
RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage (Toronto) - Toronto, ON
LL.B., Broker

Barrie,

 

This series is becomig quite a valuable resourec.

I also appreciate your summary of prior posts.

 

Brian

Feb 17, 2010 10:54 PM
Barrie Clulow
My Time Is My Own - Uxbridge, ON

Marc -The written reasons would help a person decide if the decision itself was one they could use to benefit their cause in their own hearing.

In presenting to the board any information you can produce to help prove your point helps them in making a decision in your favour. If it is verifiable "case history" it carries a lot more weight than a you just stating it or asking for a reduction based on the existence of an issue. I would not rely solely on reductions gained by others as there may be other mitigating factors.

As to whether "The Decision" would be binding in another appeal or not you would have to refer to the the various acts and regulations that are involved and the evidence that MPAC uses to counter the decision in your particular case. (They are constantly being changed and updated and it has been to many years since I looked at one)

Feb 18, 2010 01:05 AM
Barrie Clulow
My Time Is My Own - Uxbridge, ON

Brian - Your welcome.

Feb 18, 2010 01:08 AM