Real Estate Law Blog

The City of Vancouver imposes an annual Empty Homes Tax (“EHT”) on vacant Vancouver houses and residential lands to encourage owners to tenant the houses and encourage construction of new housing on empty lots. The Province imposes its own Speculation and Vacancy Tax (“SVT”) and the Federal Government imposes a similar Underused Housing Tax.

In April 2023, the ...

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") has expanded the scope for constructive taking (also called de facto expropriation) claims. They have removed the requirement to show that a government has acquired a beneficial interest in the relevant land whose development rights they impair. This requirement has been replaced with the much broader category of ...

On September 30, 2020 important changes to the Agricultural Land Commission Act, [SBC 2002] Chapter 36 and the associated regulations came into force that may significantly affect the prospects for removal of private land from the Agricultural Land Reserve (“ALR”). These changes are of particular note to private owners of ALR lands slated for future development. The ...

The Province has announced that as part of its package of relief for businesses it will reduce school tax rates for commercial properties (Classes 4 – Major Industry, 5 – Light Industry and 6 – Business & Other) by 50% for the 2020 tax year.

The Property Assessment Appeal Board has announced that in conjunction with the Provincial extension of limitation periods, the ...

In the cases referred to as Vavilov or the Trilogy – Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 and Bell Canada v. Canada (Attorney General), 2019 SCC 66 – the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) clarified the framework for judicial review of administrative decisions. In the Trilogy, the SCC has ostensibly simplified the law by redefining the ...