Francis Shea

The applicant sought a declaration that Property Assessment Change Notices issued for the 2012 and 2013 taxation years were invalid.

The notices added the value of a newly constructed hotel to the property assessment, resulting in significant additional municipal and education taxes.

The applicant argued the assessment corporation could only issue revised assessments where an omission was inadvertent and not where the property was deliberately excluded.

The court held that the governing statute permits reassessment where property has been omitted from the tax roll regardless of the reason for the omission.

The court found the hotel had been omitted due to negligence, error, inadvertence or mistake and upheld the validity of the revised assessments.

The appellants appealed the property assessment of a former hotel that was converted into a student residence.

MPAC had assessed the property at $6,360,000.

The Assessment Review Board reduced the current value to $5,062,000 for the 2013 taxation year and $5,371,000 for the 2014 and 2015 taxation years.

The Board also determined that the property should remain in the Commercial Property Class for 2013 and 2014, but be reclassified to the Multi-Residential Property Class for 2015, as the converted units met the definition of self-contained units.