Despite the continued rise in property values, fewer and fewer Montreal taxpayers are contesting their property assessment. Fewer and fewer of them are also winning their case to reduce their property taxes.
For the City of Montreal’s 2020-2022 assessment roll, 0.6% of taxpayers, or 3,040, requested a review of the value of their property, compared to 1.3%, or 5,073, for the role 2001-2003.
For the 2020-2022 roll, 41.2% of requests, or 1,253, resulted in a decrease in property value, compared to 54% for the 2004-2006 roll.
The new municipal roll for 2023-2025, unveiled last September, provides for an average increase in property values of 32.4%, which has caused a lot of discontent in the population. When tabling its budget on November 29, the City of Montreal decreed an average tax increase of 4.1% for the residential sector and 2.9% for the non-residential.
For properties whose value has increased more than the average, the increase in the amount of taxes will however be steeper.
No wave in sight
But the municipal authorities do not expect a wave of challenges to the assessments. “We have previously seen larger increases in the property assessment roll, for example 38.6% in 2007, and this has not translated into a substantial increase in the number of disputes. There is no direct correlation,” explains the director of the Property Assessment Service of the City of Montreal, Bernard Côté, in a written response to our questions.
A request for review costs $75 for a property of $500,000 or less and $300 if its value is between $500,000 and $2 million. Protesters have until April 30 to file such a request.
Those who are still dissatisfied after a review can bring an action against the City at the Tribunal administratif du Québec (TAQ), but they must again pay fees varying between $84 and $1,115 depending on the value of their property.
“Historically, the loss of value [à la suite d’un recours au TAQ] is between 10% and 15% of the contested values,” reveals Mr. Côté.
Owners therefore have an interest in calculating to see if the game is worth the candle, that is to say if their property tax is likely to decrease by an amount greater than the costs to be paid for an overhaul.
Winners and losers
About 500 to 600 requests are filed with the TAQ for each role, indicates the City. For the 2020 role, there were 480.
By consulting the judgments of the court, we note that the points of view on the evaluation are sometimes diametrically opposed.
Thus, a division of ArcelorMittal Canada, owner of an industrial complex located at 5900, rue Saint-Patrick, in the Sud-Ouest borough, failed to reduce the value of its listed property by 77%.
The City valued the complex at 11.5 million in the 2020-2022 roll. Before the judge, the expert evaluator appointed by the company, however, pleaded that it was only worth 2.6 million, while that of the City revised its assessment upwards, to 13.8 million.
In its decision rendered last August, the court ruled: the property is worth 11.9 million.
In another case, the Labatt brewery contested the value of its property located at 50, rue Labatt, in the borough of LaSalle, which the City established at 43.2 million on the 2020-2022 roll, while it did not was only 23.7 million according to the company, or 45% less,
Judge’s decision last month: the value is 35.8 million, or 17% less than the City’s assessment.
Is the Big Wheel a building?
In its appeal before the Administrative Tribunal of Quebec (TAQ), the Grande Roue de Montréal is not content to dispute the value of its property: it asks the judge to declare that it is not a building, but rather a piece of equipment. non-permanent that can be dismantled as needed.
This distinction influences the value that must be entered on the municipal roll. The Ferris Wheel is valued at 17.2 million by the City.
Judge’s decision: it is indeed a building, in particular because the Ferris Wheel, which would take four weeks to dismantle, is “fixed to a concrete foundation and piles that sink deep into the ground , down to the rock”.
Now that this issue is decided, another decision is expected regarding the value of the property.