Assessment Review Board
Commission de révision de l’évaluation foncière
ISSUE DATE:
January 07, 2020
DM 2019M71
Moving Party(ies):
Jennifer Nicholi Noel
Respondent(s):
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (“MPAC”)
Region 16
Respondent(s):
Township of Tay
Property Location(s):
2770 Triple Bay Road
Municipality(ies):
Township of Tay
Roll Number(s):
4353-040-004-07208-0000
Taxation Year(s):
2018
Hearing Event No.:
727465
Legislative Authority:
Rule 26(b) of the Assessment Review Board Rules of Practice and Procedure
Heard:
December 16, 2019 by written submission
Parties
Representative
Submissions
Jennifer Nicholi Noel
Self-represented
Moving Party
MPAC
Shelby Roper
Received
Township of Tay
Not Received
DISPOSITION OF THE BOARD DELIVERED BY JOANNE LAWS
DISPOSITION OF MOTION
1Jennifer Nicholi Noel purchased 2770 Triple Bay Road in the Township of Tay (the “Property”) in the summer of 2017.
2On September 26, 2019, Ms. Noel filed a motion for the Assessment Review Board (the “Board”) to accept a late appeal for the 2018 taxation year. She makes this request because the appeal was not filed by the deadline set out in the Assessment Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.A.31 (the “Act”).
3MPAC is represented in the motion by Shelby Roper who states that, although MPAC does not object to the relief sought, it takes the position that the Moving Party has not met all three requirements set out in Rule 26(b) of the Board’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules”).
4The Township of Tay which would be a party to the appeal if accepted, filed no submission in the motion.
5For the following reasons, I find that the Board does not have the legislated authority to grant Ms. Noel the relief she is seeking. Therefore, her motion is denied.
Background
6In her affidavit, dated September 23, 2019, Ms. Noel states she became aware of an increase in her assessment in “Sept/Oct” and that she contacted MPAC who advised her it had issued a notice of assessment and advised her to file a Request for Reconsideration (“RfR”).
7In support of her motion, Ms. Noel submitted a copy of the resulting Minutes of Settlement, which MPAC signed on June 4, 2019 and she signed on July 25, 2019. The Minutes of Settlement indicate that an RfR was filed with MPAC on February 7, 2019 and that MPAC addressed the 2019 taxation year only. Ms. Noel believed she was filing the RfR for the 2018 taxation year and, therefore, filed this Motion for a late appeal.
8In his affidavit, Darren Manuel of MPAC states that the notice of assessment “reflecting the 2018 taxation year was likely mailed to an incorrect address and the Moving Party likely never received this notice.” Ms. Roper repeated this statement numerous times in her written submissions. She added that the timeline to comply with the requirement to file a Request for Reconsideration for the 2018 taxation year was set out in the notice of assessment and, in not receiving the notice of assessment, Ms. Noel did not meet this precondition for filing an appeal. Ms. Noel states she received the 2018 notice of assessment in August 2018. However, Ms. Roper states that what MPAC sent was not the notice of assessment but the property profiles for November 2017 and August 2018. Copies of both those documents, which set out the Property’s details, were submitted by Ms. Noel.
Appeals to this Board
9Section 40 of the Act provides how appeals can be made to this Board in relation to, among other things, the assessed values. Subsection 40(3) of the Act provides that making an RfR with MPAC is a precondition to filing an appeal for residential properties:
40.(3) If a property is in the residential, farm or managed forests property class, or in such other circumstances as the Minister may prescribe, no appeal may be brought to the Assessment Review Board under subsection (1) by a person who is entitled to make a request for reconsideration under section 39.1 in respect of the property, if the person has not made the request within the time required under that section. (emphasis added)
10Where making an RfR with MPAC is a precondition to filling an appeal with this Board, the Board has limited authority to extend the request for reconsideration filing deadline. This is set out in subsection 40(4) of the Act.
40.(4) If, in the Board’s opinion, there are extenuating circumstances explaining why a request for reconsideration in respect of a property was not made within the time required under section 39.1 by a person who was required to do so as a precondition of appeal under subsection (3), the Board may, on an application by the person during the taxation year, extend the deadline for making a request under that section. (emphasis added)
11In summary, the Property is assessed in the residential tax class and there is a two-stage process for appealing such assessments. The first stage is requesting a reconsideration directly with MPAC, the assessing agency. This provides the parties an opportunity to discuss and resolve the issues in dispute before entering the second stage which is an appeal to Board.
12However, the deadlines to file RfRs are legislated and can only be extended in limited circumstances. Failure to receive the property assessment notice may be an extenuating circumstance but, unfortunately, this motion to extend the 2018 RfR filing deadline was not brought to the Board in the 2018 taxation year as required by s. 40(4) of the Act.
13The evidence is that Ms. Noel made her RfR with MPAC in February 2019. Ms. Noel argues that she believed her RfR was made for the 2018 taxation year. She also argues that the results of the 2019 taxation year should be applied to the 2018 taxation year because the two years are assessed in the same four-year cycle. While both arguments are reasonable, the evidence I received is that an RfR was not made in the 2018 taxation year.
14Pursuant to Section 40(4) of the Act I do not have the jurisdiction to extend the time for Ms. Noel to file an RfR for the 2018 taxation year because the RfR was not made in that tax year. Without a timely RfR, Ms. Noel cannot file an appeal to this Board. Accordingly, Rule 26(b) has no application.
CONCLUSION
15Ms. Noel’s motion to file a late appeal for the 2018 taxation year is denied.
“Joanne Laws”
JOANNE LAWS
MEMBER
Assessment Review Board
A constituent tribunal of Tribunals Ontario - Environment and Land Division
Website: www.elto.gov.on.ca Telephone: 416-212-6349 Toll Free: 1-866-448-2248