Rubina Hemani v. Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, 2018 CanLII 62971

Assessment Review Board

Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière

ISSUE DATE:

July 03, 2018

FILE NO.:

DM 2018M16

Moving Party:

Rubina Hemani

Respondent:

Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (“MPAC”) Region 14

Respondent:

City of Richmond Hill

Property Location:

23 Horner Court

Municipality:

City of Richmond Hill

Roll Number:

1938-050-044-23534-0000

Appeal Number:

3320339 and 2018 deemed appeal

Taxation Years:

2017 and 2018 (deemed appeal)

Hearing Event No.:

701327

Legislative Authority:

Section 40(5) of the Assessment Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.31, as amended

Heard:

June 13, 2018 in Richmond Hill, Ontario

APPEARANCES:

Parties

Representative

Rubina Hemani

Self-represented

MPAC

Terry Kroi

City of Richmond Hill

No one appeared

MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DISPOSITION DELIVERED BY SCOTT McANSH ON JUNE 13, 2018

1Rubina Hemani brings this motion seeking permission to file an appeal of the assessment of his property at 23 Horner Court in the City of Richmond Hill after the filing deadline. He did not receive MPAC’s response to the request for reconsideration he filed for the 2017 taxation year. He was under the impression that his appeal of MPAC’s reconsideration was out of time. That understanding was incorrect.

2For the reasons that follow I find that the 2017 appeal of the property was filed in a timely way. Because that appeal was not disposed of before March 31, 2018, there is also a deemed appeal of the 2018 assessment.

Timing

3Mr. Hemani filed a request for reconsideration of the 2017 assessment of the property on October 5, 2016. MPAC had 180 days to respond to that request pursuant to s. 39.1(7) of the Assessment Act, RSO 1990, c A.31 (the “Act”). On March 28, 2016 MPAC requested an additional 60 days, as permitted by the Act. Mr. Hemani received that extension of time request.

4MPAC issued the results of its review on April 10, 2017. MPAC recommended a reduction in the assessment of the property for the 2017 taxation year. Mr. Hemani never received that letter. Mr. Hemani did receive a later June 10, 2017 letter from MPAC asking for a response to its April offer. He made follow up attempts with MPAC and received a copy of the offer from MPAC on July 19, 2017. He rejected that offer on July 25, 2017. He was informed that he was out of time to appeal to this Assessment Review Board (“Board”) and filed this application for a late appeal on August 15, 2017.

Filing Deadline

5The time for filing an appeal to this Board for the 2017 taxation year when a request for reconsideration was filed is set out in subsection 40(5) of the Act. That subsection provides two appeal periods. First there is a 90 day timeline from the “issuance date printed on the notice mailed by the assessment corporation.” The second timeline is triggered if “the assessment corporation has not mailed a notice of reconsideration within the time required.” That timeline is “90 days after the notice should have been mailed” and is the operative timeline here.

6The evidence is that Mr. Hemani received the extension letter from MPAC, as well as their follow up letter. Only the decision letter was not received. I find it likely that the decision letter was not mailed, which triggers the timeline in the second paragraph of subsection 40(5). MPAC had extended their time to respond to 240 days after the filing day of October 5, 2016. I calculate MPAC’s deadline to respond to be June 2, 2017. The filing deadline is then 90 days after that date, or August 31, 2017. Mr. Hemani filed this application on August 15, 2017.

7An application for a late appeal is clearly an intention to appeal the assessment. That attempt to appeal was made two weeks before the filing deadline in subsection 40(5) so will be accepted and processed as a valid appeal.

Deemed Appeal

8Clause 40(26)(b) of the Act creates deemed appeals if the same general reassessment applies and “the appeal is not finally disposed of before March 31 of the subsequent taxation year.” Both of those conditions are met here. The 2017 and 2018 taxation years are both premised on the January 1, 2016 valuation day and subsection 1(1) of the Act defines general reassessment as “the application of a new valuation day.” Additionally, the 2017 appeal for this property has not yet been created, so clearly it has not yet been disposed of. The Board will, therefore, create a 2018 deemed appeal for this property, in addition to the 2017 appeal.

CONCLUSION

9This 2017 appeal was filed within the timelines set out in the Act. There is also a 2018 appeal because the 2017 appeal was not disposed of before March 31, 2018. Both appeals will be processed by the Board.