Delta Hotels & Resorts v. Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, 2016 CanLII 91367

Assessment Review Board

Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière

ISSUE DATE: December 29, 2016

FILE NO.: RR 2016M07

Appellant(s): Delta Hotels & Resorts

Assessed Person(s): The Standard Life Assurance, BPO (Ontario Core) Ltd., Ontario Holdings Ltd, Crehoy Inc., The Manufacturers Life Insurance

Respondent(s): Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (“MPAC”) Region 03

Property Location(s): 112 Kent Street

Municipality(ies): City of Ottawa

Roll Number(s): 0614-041-701-15600-0000

Appeal Number(s): 2961993, 3096844, 3102136 and 3144569

Taxation Year(s): 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016

Hearing Event No.: 639852

Legislative Authority: Section 40 of the Assessment Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.31, as amended

Request by: Delta Hotels & Resorts

Request for: Reinstatement of appeal numbers 2961993, 3096844, 3102136 and 3144569

Heard: By telephone conference call

DECISION OF THE BOARD DELIVERED BY PAUL MULDOON

INTRODUCTION

1Frank Shea, on behalf of Delta Hotels & Resorts (the “Requester”), is requesting the Assessment Review Board (“Board”) to reinstate appeal numbers 2961993, 3096844, 3102136, and 3144569, for taxation years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 by way of a request for review under Rule 145 of the Board’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules”). This request for review was filed with the Board on November 17, 2016.

2In its request for review, the Requester states that the appeals were dismissed during a teleconference call (“TCC”) on September 13, 2016 (hearing number 639852) due to non-attendance. The Requester states that its representatives, Russ Reynolds and Len Tomini, did not receive notice of the TCC. MPAC and the Requester have signed minutes of settlement, which will be submitted if the appeals are reinstated.

RELEVANT RULES

3Rules 141 to 146 of the Board’s Rules set out the process whereby the Board may grant a reinstatement by way of a review of the decision that dismissed the appeals. In effect, a reinstatement may be granted pursuant to Rule 144 which grants the Board with the following authority:

144 Receipt of Request for Review

(1) Where a request for review has been received, the Board may:

(a) seek written submissions from the parties on the issue raised in the request;

(b) grant a motion to argue the question;

(c) grant a re-hearing without a motion; or

(d) confirm, vary, suspend or cancel the decision.

ISSUE AND ORDER SOUGHT

4The Requester seeks the reinstatement of appeal numbers 2961993, 3096844, 3102136 and 3144569 by way of a request for review. The Requester submits that the appeals were dismissed due to no fault of its own and that all parties agree that the appeals should be reinstated.

DISCUSSION AND REASONS

5The Associate Chair considers requests for review as a delegate of the Executive Chair of the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario. As a general rule, the Associate Chair will exercise the discretion authorized under the Rules to grant a new hearing if the Associate Chair is satisfied that: the appeal was dismissed as a result of no fault of the applicant; all parties consent to the rehearing; and there is no obvious prejudice to any party, (Transmetro Limited v Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, 2016 CANLII 2587 (ON ARB)). In other cases, discretion will be used on a case-by-case basis.

6The Requester notified the Board of the change of agency on June 15, 2015 when Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Tomini were retained. However, the notice of hearing was sent to an incorrect Toronto address, which used to be the offices of the different but similarly named management company, Delta Hotels No. 12 Holdings Ltd. Consequently, the Requester’s representatives were not aware of, and thus failed to attend, the TCC.

7MPAC and the Requester have signed minutes of settlement, which will be submitted if the appeals are reinstated. Neither MPAC, nor the municipality object the reinstatement of the appeals.

8The Associate Chair finds that the appeals were dismissed as a result of no fault of the Requester and that all parties have consented to their reinstatement. Also, there is no evidence or submissions that there is prejudice to any party.

ORDER

9The request for review by Delta Hotels & Resorts is granted and the appeals will be reinstated.