A section of the Assessment Act that allows longtime homeowners to pay below-market property tax if their neighbourhood evolves is coming under scrutiny as the province pushes for greater housing supply and density.
Section 19(8) allows land to be assessed at a below-market value if a homeowner has continuously used it as their principal residence for at least 10 years and other criteria are met, such as the land being less than five acres and having a higher value as a redevelopment site. Homeowners must apply annually, and applications received after March 15 will not be reviewed.
While there are no immediate plans to modify the legislation, it is coming into focus as the province encourages density in 小蓝视频’s cities, particularly through small-scale, multi-unit housing (SSMUH) and mixed-use rezoning.
“Maybe a person [has] lived in a house for a really long time, and over the course of that time, the community had changed, maybe official community plans had been passed, and you started to see … commercial buildings or higher-density residential … driving up land values, which drive up property taxes along with that,” explained Bryan Murao, assessor with 小蓝视频 Assessment.
“You’re seeing someone potentially taxed out of their home because they couldn’t afford the property taxes anymore, even though it wasn’t something they could have predicted.”
Examples of eligible properties could include a single-family house next to a 20-storey tower, a property on an unusually large lot that has subdivision potential, or a home in an area that is shifting from residential to commercial or mixed uses, he said.
Amid an affordability crisis, there are concerns that section 19(8) could be hindering provincial efforts aimed at ramping up density and supply.
“I’m wondering if that section gets looked at, just with the government coming out with their ‘naughty list’ saying here’s all these communities that have got to speed up housing and bring more supply to market,” said Jeff Tisdale, CEO of Landcor Data Corp., which provides automated home valuations to banks and credit unions.
“There’s going to be a lot of rich discussion around what to do with this section, [such as] protecting the longtime homeowner or the dwelling versus the greater good of the neighbourhood or the community.”
Murao said it’s for politicians to decide the future of section 19(8), and that 小蓝视频 Assessment just follows its legislative orders. He said most section 19(8) properties eventually get sold, ending their special tax treatment, and that the number of such properties might not be big enough to have a substantial impact on 小蓝视频’s housing supply.
For roll year 2025, there are 1,119 section 19(8) properties in the City of Vancouver, 651 in Coquitlam, 614 in Surrey, 447 in Burnaby, 317 in Langley, 269 in Richmond, 249 in Port Coquitlam, 173 in North Vancouver, 152 in Maple Ridge and 146 in Kelowna.
All these municipalities were on the provincial government’s “naughty list” in 2023. In the province as a whole, there are currently 5,783 such properties, a one-per-cent increase from roll year 2024.
Murao said that in the wake of SSMUH legislation, there has been some confusion among homeowners and experts regarding section 19(8) and its application.
“When the government passed Bill 44 … and most of the municipalities around the Lower Mainland and the province [had] to go in and update their single-family zoning bylaws to support these higher-density uses, … influential people at real estate brokerage firms or even some media bodies looked at that and said, ‘Okay, so zoning bylaws now allow this, therefore I’m getting taxed on this development potential.’”
However, Murao said it will take time for the “highest and best use” to change for single-family neighbourhoods. It requires actual uptake and changes in behaviour by buyers, sellers, developers and appraisers. Permitted uses alone are not enough to trigger the section.
“Until you can actually find the market activity, [where] you’re seeing sales evidence that properties in your neighbourhood are actually selling for more for redevelopment potential, there isn’t actually a benefit for section 19(8),” he said.
Landcor’s Tisdale said he’ll be watching from the sidelines to see whether this provision of the Assessment Act eventually gets revisited.
“I read the newspaper and see all the discussion around housing, and I wonder at what point does this get looked at by the government and they kind of tweak the section, not to penalize people for living in their home for 30 years, but maybe incentivizing them to move along a little bit quicker,” he said.
“It’s a curiosity in the housing market that I kind of just sort of keep an eye to.”
