This post is a bit different than my typical writings about music and creative projects. But it’s an important topic I wanted to shed some light on.

Over the last few years, a lot of us in Daajing Giids, B.C. have seen the assessed values of our homes rise by shocking amounts. The value of my Haida Gwaii home (my partner and I affectionately call it our house-trailer) rose 87% in 2022 and 42% in 2023. Both years, this was more than double the average increase in the village. According to BC Assessment, this house is a hot commodity. And therein lies the problem – skyrocketing house prices in this remote community are making it harder for people to live here.

What can you do about it? Well, here’s one idea. This week I called BC Assessment and got our home’s assessed value lowered by $95,000(!). It took 45 minutes. Here’s what I learned. 

First, if you own property in BC and feel that your house has been overvalued, you have a few days left to appeal your BC Assessment notice before the Jan 31 deadline.

I didn’t need to go through the whole appeal process, because the assessor I talked to was willing to make a decision over the phone. I get the feeling they are motivated to do this whenever possible. I came prepared with:

• My assessment notice

• Knowledge that our house’s value was out of line with similar Daajing Giids homes - you can get that info by poking around bcassessment.ca. The site says “please note that % change is not a valid reason for appeal,” which is why it’s important to compare yours against other local properties.

That’s it. I let him figure out the rest while I was on the line. 

$95,000 is almost the entire amount our property was raised for 2023. Why the error? I don’t know for sure, but it seems like someone miscategorized our two buildings. First, we have a manufactured home that was categorized as double-wide, not single. We also have an unfinished two-story building, and this faces the main road if you go by our street address. I think someone looked at a photo and thought this was a house, or more finished than it is. 

BC Assessment has an assessor focused on manufactured homes, and this is who I spoke with. He knows that houses here are, shall we say… unique. A lot of them don’t really fit into neat categories. They also have a Haida Gwaii assessor, and these two sit next to each other. Chances are, if you appeal, you’ll be speaking with one of them. 

Why would you want to lower your home’s assessed value? You are likely to pay a little less property tax. But more importantly, it’s a small push back against the runaway inflation of housing prices that makes living here impossible for some people. Properties are assessed by looking at what similar properties have sold for, and appeals are made by seeing what BCA thinks similar properties are worth. If our homes are being overvalued, then prices will be artificially inflated.

If more of us in Haida Gwaii and Northern BC appeal, it could help slow that trend. At best this is a stopgap, but it’s something.

What is BC Assessment for?

In January, BC Assessment released a table of average value increases in northern BC communities, including Daajing Giids, Port Clements, and Masset. I emailed Deputy Assessor Teria Penner about it. Mostly, I was trying to figure out how the assessed value correlates with property taxes. I didn’t find BCA’s explanations helpful by themselves, and I won’t go into it now, but the best explanation I found comes from @kevinschroederrealtor on Instagram.

Here’s part of my email exchange with BC Assessment:

Me: Is it part of your mandate to ensure housing is available to British Columbians by protecting them from extreme changes in housing prices that may happen due to foreseen risks including market speculation, natural disasters, climate breakdown, etc.? If so, what mechanisms does BC Assessment have in place to do this?

Teria: BC Assessment is responsible for providing assessed values for all properties in British Columbia, which are used by local governments for taxation purposes. Any housing questions can be directed to your local government or MLA.

In other words, BC Assessment’s mandate is not to make sure BCers can afford to buy or rent homes. But what if the Village of Daajing Giids set up its own assessment service to value property based on what the community needs instead of a speculative real estate market?

Me: Does BC Assessment cover the entire province? And are municipalities and taxing bodies required by law to use BC Assessment assessments, or can they, hypothetically, make their own assessments to base tax bills on?

Teria: It is legislative based on the Assessment Act in British Columbia. We provide assessments for the entire province of British Columbia.

We are stuck with this system for now. But I wonder if it is serving British Columbians well under the current circumstances.

To appeal your assessment, 

1. Get your notice.

2. Visit bcassessment.ca to compare your property’s prices with similar properties in your town.

3. Call BC Assessment at 1-866-825-8322 and ask about appeals. They’ll probably tell you an assessor will call back in two days.