ASSESSMENT APPEAL

Step 1:
If you are thinking about an appeal to the Assessment Review Board (ARB), you must file your appeal with the ARB by March 31, 2004. You can change your mind at any time and withdraw your appeal if, when you check all the statistics, you don’t think you have a case. BUT if you haven’t filed by March 31… you can’t appeal. Our hearing date was over 4 months after we filed, so there was lots of time to pull all our material together. But it could happen sooner.

Step 2:
Ask yourself whether there are any extenuating circumstances about your property that would affect the assessment. Factors that MPAC might not have considered… Do you live close to a very busy marina? Do planes buzz your cottage as they head in for refueling? Is your water very shallow and reedy? Is your large acreage basically unbuildable because it resembles Mount Everest? Is your cottage located on a narrow bay, which has restrictions on subdividing? Reductions are allowed for nuisance factors, which can be negotiated at the district level of MPAC. It’s often worth a shot BUT you do not have to take their offer.

Step 3:
Once you decide to appeal your assessment, you begin by asking MPAC for their list and details of comparable properties. Be prepared to ask for your own specific comparables. And think carefully about which ones you ask for. This can prove difficult, as the MPAC addresses do not differentiate different properties on the same road. So for instance, if you are # 7 on a road number 1045, all the properties on road 1045 have the same address at MPAC. If you are on a road with more than one property and want to know your neighbours assessment, you need their roll number. Not always easy!

Step 4:
When you get the list of comparable properties, don’t assume that that information will help your case. We found that the properties seemed to be compiled to support MPAC’s case. It seems that their theory is that…. ‘if the assessed values of their suggested comparables are correct then your assessment must be correct’. And think about it……..Why would they give you comparables that could prove their analysis wrong? Also, the statistics on the comparables can have many discrepancies. ….. wrong number of buildings on the property, wrong frontage……Don’t assume that MPAC’s statistics are correct. MPAC are working with a very small staff compared to a few years ago and they often can’t visit the properties and have to rely on their computerized formulas and information that may be out of date. Therefore you need to visit the properties; perhaps both by land and by water. Take pictures to back up your case. It takes a fair bit of time but you do get to see lots of areas on Muskoka that you might not ordinarily visit. Plot the properties on a map. The marine maps have great detail for this purpose.

Step 5:
Check the recent sales in your immediate area. This will be your most significant tool and according to the Assessment Review Board is the best evidence of true market value. It’s not simply a matter of recording the sale price. Check the assessment, the listing price and the time between listing and the sale of the property. Get copies of all of the above. Your best case for support is a property similar to yours (frontage, size, quality and assessed value) that sold for under its assessed value. The sales do not have to have taken place before the valuation date for the current taxation year. They can be as recent as the month you appear at the ARB. An appeal last year used, as a comparison case, a property that had sold 2 years after the valuation date for 24% below its assessed value and after 10 months on the market.

Step 6:
Gather all your info into an easily useable format. We used a 3 ring binder. Have extra copies of any important parts of your case to share with the clerk, the ARB member hearing your appeal and the MPAC representative. Copies of bills of sale; pictures of your property; maps of where the comparable properties are located.

Step 7:
You may be approached by MPAC to settle before you go to the appeal hearing. Think carefully before you settle. Have a number in mind that would make you happy. If that number is negotiated, you’re home free. But you may be approached as late as on your way into the appeal hearing so have your numbers solid in your head.

Step 8:
Relax! The actual appeal hearing was not as scary as you might think. It was held on a weekday in the council chambers of the Township of Muskoka Lakes. The ARB member introduced everyone; himself, the clerk, the MPAC representative and those who were appealing cases that day. We all sat around the large council table and spread out our ‘things’. The ARB member who heard our appeal was most friendly. He explained the procedures very clearly and was most helpful and open to questions.

After introductory remarks about the procedures to be followed, you will be asked to start with the presentation of your case. Be prepared to state your case clearly, unemotionally and offer to share your evidence. The ARB member has no prior knowledge of anything related to your appeal or your property and, in fact, may not be familiar with Muskoka in any way. Therefore you need to make your case assuming that the ARB member knows nothing about Muskoka or your particular property. Additionally in some instances, the person from MPAC does not have any actual knowledge of the properties under discussion. So the clearer you can be about your situation, your property and your Muskoka neighbourhood and your case for an assessment reduction, the better your chances are of a successful outcome.

Start by describing your property – size, waterfront, square frontage, class of construction (this varies from 1 – 10; 1 being a cabin in the woods with an outhouse and 10 being a new mega cottage with all the bells and whistles). Describe your property’s attractive features and its warts. Pictures are most helpful. Then compare your property to the comparables, both yours and the ones selected by MPAC, showing the similarities and the differences. Where the comparables are assessed at a higher value, point out the reasons why they are more valuable than your property and when they are assessed at a lower value, why your property is more comparable to the lower valued property. Don’t overlook neighbourhood differences. Although MPAC may recognize approximately 8 different “neighbourhoods” (in addition to islands and rivers) on Lake Muskoka, they may not rate them differently from an assessment perspective. This minimal distinction may not be supportable. Walkers Point is not Beaumaris.

After an opportunity for questions from the ARB member, the MPAC representative has their turn. Be prepared to point out errors in MPAC’s presentation and to defend you reasons after the MPAC representative has made their case.

Step 9:
The ARB member may give his decision either immediately or after a short recess or reserve his decision for release later.
You are entitled to receive the written reasons for the decision you receive. In order to request a review of the decision, it is necessary to have requested written reasons. You should do so by letter to the ARB within 15 days of your hearing. Be prepared to wait up to 3 months to receive them.

Step 10:
Enjoy your win if you are successful and even if you are not successful, rest assured that you gave it your best shot and there will be another day. If your win was reliant on a local sale or very local conditions, share your win with your neighbours. They may deserve the same reduction!

Observations:

· Each of the approximately 11 neighbourhoods (not including islands and rivers) in the 3 big Muskoka Lakes has a value that is part of the MPAC assessment formula. However some of these neighbourhoods may be deemed to have the same value. We challenged that saying that there are prestigious, average and less desirable areas on all the lakes. We think we received a favourable hearing on that point. We questioned whether the same cottage on a narrow back bay on Lake Muskoka had the same value as a similar cottage in a more open area. The MPAC formula may not differentiate in that way and may rate them equally as to location.

· It is a time consuming process. In all, we probably spent about 30 hours gathering and preparing all the information for the appeal. Less if you have high speed Internet! But it was an interesting and somewhat fun experience. ………….Once we forgot about trying to take pictures of other peoples cottages in the pouring rain; trying to sort out all the pictures after we had taken them all; and trying to make sense out of all our information and decide how strongly we felt about our case. For us, the more we delved into the details of our situation, the more convinced we were that it needed to be appealed. And given the success we experienced, it was a good thing that we appealed.

· Don’t overlook both the MPAC and Assessment Review Board websites. In particular, the ARB web site sets out the rules, criteria and process of an appeal. MPAC - www.mpac.ca and ARB - www.arb.gov.on.ca