BC Assessment has recently made assessment corrections to waterfront properties in the District of Sooke.
“During the summer of 2011, the District of Sooke asked us to confirm the accuracy and uniformity of waterfront property assessments in Sooke,” said Reuben Danakody, Area Assessor for BC Assessment. “It is not uncommon for the general public or local governments to advance property assessment inquiries or concerns to BC Assessment. We subsequently conducted our own due diligence which also included a careful examination of all waterfront sales in Sooke for the past five years and concluded that some properties were undervalued and therefore needed to be corrected to ensure fairness to all waterfront property owners in Sooke.”
BC Assessment operates as an independent, provincial Crown corporation with the mandate to establish market value and maintain uniform real property assessments throughout British Columbia in accordance with the Assessment Act.
Waterfront property owners whose properties were re-assessed, received advance notification from BC Assessment advising them of the assessment review and their proposed 2012 assessments and how it could potentially affect their property taxes for the 2012 taxation year.
The 2012 property assessment notices were issued on December 31.
“We ask that all property owners carefully review their 2012 assessments to see that the assessed value reflects fair market value of their properties as of July 1, 2011,” said Danakody. “If anyone has any concerns, they should contact the Capital Assessment Office as indicated on their assessment notice, so that we can review the matter with them.”