BC Assessment Appeal Record is my own public count of every homeowner I have personally helped, every appeal they took to a decision, and what happened at every level, from BC Assessment fixing a value before the Property Assessment Review Panel hearing to a final decision by the Property Assessment Appeal Board.
What are my chances of winning a BC Assessment appeal?
It is a reasonable question: how often do homeowners win? For you, it depends on the evidence for your property compared with actual market sales of similar homes in your area. But here is what most people may not know: BC Assessment and the Property Assessment Review Panel don't track who wins, and they don't publish a record either.
My BC Assessment Appeal Record started in 2023, a year BC Assessment reported 30,268 appeals, approximately 1.4% of all properties in British Columbia. BC Assessment presented that as more than 98% of owners agreeing with their assessments.1 While it tells you how many properties were appealed, it does not publish how many of them were single family dwellings, how many were commercial, or how any of them ended, with a reduction or with the value upheld.
So I asked under freedom of information. BC Assessment told me 844 of them were single family dwelling complaints, approximately 3% of its 30,268 total for 2023.2 That means the other 29,424, approximately 97%, were something else. Could they be condos and land? Some of them, but that would be a lot of condos and land. I suspect most of them were what the appeal system calls IC&I properties.
What it would not tell me was how often any of those appeals were won, and I had asked for that in the same freedom of information request. Instead of straight answers, I faced delays and a fee estimate of $736.49, and I asked BC Assessment to waive the fee. By December 2024, I still did not have the information, so I asked the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia to review how BC Assessment handled my request. The Cowichan Valley Citizen reported the complaint on January 16, 2025, and I told the paper: "Without transparency, we're left to take BCA's word for it."3 It is a reasonable question for any homeowner to ask, and this page exists because the answer was never published.
1 Assessment Act, 2 roads
British Columbia has 1 Assessment Act, but appeals travel down 2 roads, from start to finish. BC Assessment, the Property Assessment Review Panel and the Property Assessment Appeal Board each run a residential road for homeowners and an IC&I road, which the Appeal Board defines as industrial, commercial and investment.4 In my experience, most homeowners never realize there are 2 roads. This record shows what the residential road looks like for homeowners, next to the IC&I road.
The residential road is for the homes people live in: single family dwellings, duplexes, individual condos, manufactured homes and seasonal cabins. Some properties are residential under the Act but still travel the IC&I road, because the Appeal Board treats them as more complex: land held for residential development, whole rental apartment buildings owned as an investment, care homes, and appeals over the additional school tax on high value homes.4
That changes how the numbers read. In its 2023 Annual Report, the Board said 49% of the properties appealed to it that year were residential.5 But its residential road had only 677 new appeals that year, and only 417 single family dwellings, BC Assessment actual use code 000, were before it.4 Much of that 49% was on the IC&I road, beside the commercial and industrial appeals.
So when BC Assessment presents 1.4% of properties appealed as more than 98% of owners agreeing, in my view, that is spin. Its own answer to my FOI shows only 844 of those 30,268 appeals were single family dwelling complaints. A retired BC Assessment senior appraiser, who spent 28 years at BC Assessment, has been warning publicly since 2019 that commercial and industrial properties are underassessed. In my view, BC Assessment cannot compete with the resources of the commercial appeal agents on the IC&I road.
Why does that matter to a homeowner? Most homeowners stop at the mill rate: every home pays the same rate, so if the assessed value is fair, the bill is fair. What they are not told is what happens when a property appeals and wins. The local government does not lose that tax money. In my view, when IC&I properties are not paying their fair share, the difference is spread onto everyone else, including homeowners. That could be one of the reasons homeowners are paying more now: the burden is being shifted onto them.
The foundation is not as solid as most homeowners think, either. My 2026 audit of 7,079 Vancouver Island home sales found 40% were assessed above what they sold for.6 That was 3 years after the BC Assessment whistleblower warned about it. In my view, what he warned about is coming true, and it can now be measured and audited.
So why is the IC&I road so big, and why is it growing so fast? And why do homeowners face this kind of opposition when they appeal? This record is part of the answer.
Where my 38 fit
In 2023, BC Assessment reported 30,268 appeals. I was helping 38 homeowners, and I thought that was nothing. Nobody knew me, and I had never done an appeal. I had no idea whether a group like ours was big or common.
Now I know. Those 38 were approximately 5% of the 844 single family dwelling complaints in all of BC that year. In my experience, BC Assessment would not engage with us on the evidence. It gave us the name the Youbou Appeal Group, and it took more than a year to reach the end. Is that why BC Assessment came at the group so hard? I don't know, but in my view, it is a fair question.
Of the 38, 7 won without ever needing the Appeal Board, at the Review Panel or by email before the hearing. The Youbou Appeal Group's 28 went on to the Appeal Board.
What happened at the Review Panel
In my experience, the Review Panel rarely decides my cases on the evidence. Time and time again, it upholds BC Assessment's value, and the Appeal Board later grants the reduction the panel could have ruled on itself.
The Youbou Appeal Group is the clearest example. The panel heard the evidence on only 1 of its 28 appeals, appellant A-08 in the full record. BC Assessment had that home at $3,759,000, and I asked for $2,500,000. The panel upheld BC Assessment's value and said the evidence was too much for it. It upheld the rest without hearing their evidence. A year later, the Appeal Board set A-08 at $2,500,000, exactly what I had asked for.
The Assessment Act gives the Review Panel the time and the tools to get it right. In my view, the panels the provincial government appoints each year, under the Ministry of Finance, lack the experience to deal with real evidence. The Review Panel's own office told me it has no records that would show how often appeals are won.7
Even the panel's reductions on this record are not what they seem. Of its 24 reductions, 14 went to Youbou Appeal Group homeowners in 2024. They had already won at the Appeal Board, BC Assessment offered them a lower value for 2024 too, and the panel approved what had already been agreed.
A win at the Review Panel still counts, so it is worth putting your best evidence forward there. But the Appeal Board hears every appeal fresh, and that is where the evidence is really weighed.
How many of the 844 carried on to the Appeal Board?
The Property Assessment Appeal Board does track how its appeals end. Its annual report does not break out single family dwellings, so I asked it under freedom of information. It gave me the numbers for single family dwellings, actual use code 000.4
In 2023, the Board had 417 single family dwelling appeals, some carried over from 2022. That is approximately half of BC Assessment's 844. So approximately half dropped off between the Review Panel and the Appeal Board.
In my view, most of those homeowners did not know how to keep going. The $30 fee to go on is small, but some homeowners told me it was a barrier. And having not won at the Review Panel, many were worried they could not win at the Appeal Board. That is what I hear most often.
Here is how the Board's 417 played out in 2023, and where the Youbou Appeal Group's 28 fit. The group was approximately 7% of them.4
- 137 closed by joint recommendation, where BC Assessment and the homeowner agree on the value. 3 were the group's, approximately 2%. After losing at the Review Panel, those homeowners took a sure reduction rather than risk it.
- 109 decided in writing.
- 66 withdrawn and 45 dismissed.
- 60 still open at the end of the year. 25 of those, approximately 42%, were the group's. Their written arguments were done, and they were waiting on the Board.
Those 25 decisions came in February 2024. That year, the Board decided only 42 single family dwelling appeals in writing in all of BC, so the group's 25 were approximately 60% of them. The Board lowered the value in 22 of the 25 (88%).8 Together, 25 of the group's 28 appeals were won (89%).
At least the Board tracks it, and its transparency is welcome. My recommendation: publish all of it every year, including the numbers for single family dwellings, so homeowners know their chances before they appeal. It is a step the new government could ask for.
So I kept my own record. Every homeowner I helped, every appeal and every level, from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2026. I am publishing it here so you can check it the way an auditor would: 1 number at a time, with the proof underneath each one.
My Record: January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2026
Walk through my record, 1 number at a time
Each number below is the one in the footer of every page on this site. Here is what each one means, how it was counted, and where you can check it.
What homeowners saved
$22.6M+
cut from the values BC Assessment put on homeowners' properties
My 3 largest reductions for a homeowner: $2,063,000, $1,954,000 and $1,438,000
Every reduction on this record added together, across every level and every roll year. Each one is the gap between the value BC Assessment put on the home and the final value after the appeal.
$110K+
in estimated property tax refunds and credits for homeowners
My 3 largest estimated refunds or credits for a homeowner: $10,315, $9,770 and $7,190
A lower assessment means a smaller part of the property tax bill. I estimate it conservatively, at $500 for every $100,000 taken off the value.9 Actual refunds depend on each local tax rate and were often higher.
Who they were, and where they won
40
homeowners I helped appeal their BC Assessment
100% won a reduction. The average homeowner had approximately $566,000 taken off their value and an estimated $2,800 back in property tax.
Each homeowner is listed once in the full record, by appellant number, so their privacy is protected and every result can still be checked. Every one of them who saw their appeal through came away with a lower value (100%).
63
appeals won, out of the 65 those homeowners took to a decision
97% won, at BC Assessment, the Review Panel and the Appeal Board
A homeowner can appeal more than 1 property and more than 1 roll year, and each of those is a separate result. Those 40 homeowners took 65 appeals to a decision, and 63 of them lowered the value (97%).
Here is how those 65 appeals add up, start to finish. An appeal is 1 property in 1 roll year. Every appeal starts at Level 1: a homeowner has to file a complaint with the Property Assessment Review Panel before they can go to the Appeal Board. BC Assessment and the Review Panel both have the power to lower the value at this level.
Level 1
BC Assessment and the Property Assessment Review Panel
65
appeals filed with the Review Panel
−5
8%
fixed by email before the Review Panel hearing. The evidence went to BC Assessment first. It agreed by email and recommended the lower value to the Review Panel, which confirmed it.
−24
37%
reduced at the Review Panel. 14 of these were reductions BC Assessment offered in 2024, after the Appeal Board's decisions, which the panel confirmed.
−36
55%
upheld, the value left where BC Assessment set it. 5 were heard and upheld. 23 were the Youbou Appeal Group's, upheld on February 27, 2023, after the panel heard the evidence on only 1 of them. 8 more lost at the panel and were upheld. All 36 went on to the Appeal Board.
= 0
every appeal accounted for.
Who really lowered the value: of the 29 reductions at Level 1, 19 were values BC Assessment agreed to first: 5 by email before the hearing, and 14 offered after the Appeal Board's decisions. The Review Panel confirmed them.
Where they went next: 23 won here and the homeowner stopped. The other 42 went on to the Appeal Board: the 36 upheld, and 6 that won a reduction here but went on for more.
The Property Assessment Review Panel hears complaints each February and March.
What happened to the Youbou Appeal Group at the Review Panel
In 2023, homeowners I helped who went to the Review Panel on their own, or settled by email with BC Assessment first, were winning reductions. 7 of them won that year without ever needing the Appeal Board. So by the time the Youbou Appeal Group reached the Review Panel, I expected a big win.
That is not what happened. At the Youbou Appeal Group's hearing on February 27, 2023, the panel said it was being overwhelmed with information and would default to confirming the assessments.10 Each homeowner then paid the $30 fee to send their appeal on to the Appeal Board. The Cowichan Valley Citizen covered it on May 19, 2023, under the headline "Youbou property owners frustrated with appeal process." It reported that dozens of Lake Cowichan area owners "say they have lost confidence in BC Assessment."11 It took until early 2024 for the Appeal Board to decide those appeals. That added a long stretch of stress and a big effort for the homeowners, when the Review Panel could have decided them on the evidence and the homeowners I helped were already on a successful track. Of the 28 that went to the Appeal Board, the Board reduced 22 of the 25 it decided, plus the other 3 settled with BC Assessment, for a total of 25 of 28 (89%).
42 of the 65 appeals went on to Level 2: the 36 upheld at the Review Panel, and 6 that won a reduction there but kept going.
Level 2
Property Assessment Appeal Board
42
appeals that went on to the Appeal Board
−9
21%
settled. The homeowner and BC Assessment agreed on a lower value, and the Appeal Board approved it as a joint recommendation.
−30
71%
reduced by an independent adjudicator in a written decision.
−3
7%
confirmed by an independent adjudicator in a written decision.
= 0
every appeal accounted for.
39 of the 42 won at the Appeal Board (93%). 33 went all the way to a written decision by an independent adjudicator, and 30 of those lowered the value (91%).
The Property Assessment Appeal Board is an independent tribunal.
91%
of written Appeal Board decisions, made by an independent adjudicator, lowered the value
30 of the 33 that went that far
The hardest test on the record. At the Appeal Board, an independent adjudicator reads both sides' written evidence and decides the value. 33 of these appeals went that far, and 30 of the decisions lowered the value (91%). The 3 homeowners who lost there still won a reduction: 1 had already won at the Review Panel, and the other 2 won at the Appeal Board in a later year. Every decision has a public Appeal Board file number.
The math
How 63 of 65 adds up (97%)
23
won at Level 1, and the homeowner stopped there.
+39
won at the Appeal Board, by settlement or written decision.
+1
won at the Review Panel and kept that reduction when the Appeal Board confirmed the value.
= 63
97%
of 65 appeals won. The other 2 were 2023 Appeal Board decisions that left the value where BC Assessment set it. Both homeowners won a reduction in a later year.
Checks from outside the record
7,079
Vancouver Island home sales I checked against their BC Assessment
Less than 1% were assessed at what they sold for, and 40% were assessed above it
To see whether the homes I helped were unusual, I checked 7,079 arm's length Vancouver Island home sales from 2025 against their 2026 assessed values, across 7 regional districts and 73 tax jurisdictions. BC Assessment's value matched the sale price on 63 of them, less than 1%. 2,805 were assessed above what they sold for (40%).6 In my view, many more homeowners than the 40 on this record may be paying more than their fair share.
32
news stories about the appeals I helped with
Run more than 400 times in 68 news outlets across BC
Reporters wrote 32 stories about these appeals as they happened, and other outlets ran them more than 400 times. The news is an outside record of the same results, written at the time.
23
freedom of information requests to BC Assessment for its records
$11,047.06 in fees BC Assessment estimated to release them. I paid $30 in total, after fee waiver requests on public interest and hardship grounds.
To find out what BC Assessment held about these appeals, and about me, I made 23 freedom of information requests. Much of what BC Assessment and the Ministry of Finance said, quoted below, comes from those records.
What the homeowners said
Behind every appellant number is a homeowner. Here is what one of them said.
Andy Ross was one of the Youbou waterfront homeowners. In 2023, the Appeal Board confirmed the value on his home at $2,340,000. He kept going. Across 4 appeals on his home and his lot, from 2023 to 2025, his assessments came down $815,500.12
"I have nowhere to go but to get mad. And then I get a hold of Jason and Jason starts working on this and bring some reality into this situation."
Andy Ross, Youbou
Reduced $815,500 over 4 appeals, saving approximately $4,078 in property tax.
Appeal Nos. 2023-04-00106, 2023-04-00107, 2024-04-00073, 2024-04-00074, 2025-04-00064
His appeals are in the full record below, with every other homeowner's.
Every result
The full BC Assessment appeal record
Homeowners are listed by appellant number, never by name or address. Appeal Board file numbers are public, so you can check any of them yourself on the Board's appeal status site.
| Appellant | Roll years | Appeal Board file | How it was won | Reduction | Estimated refund or credit9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting 2023 | |||||
| A-01 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00105 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $563,000 | $2,815 |
| A-02 | 2023 to 2025 | 2023-04-00106, 2023-04-00107, 2024-04-00073, 2024-04-00074, 2025-04-00064 | Appeal Board: 1 confirmed, 1 decided; Review Panel; Appeal Board decided (2024 and 2025) | $815,500 | $4,078 |
| A-03 | 2023 | 2023-04-00108 | Appeal Board decided | $263,000 | $1,315 |
| A-04 | 2023 | 2023-04-00109 | Review Panel confirmed, Appeal Board settled and decided | $155,000 | $775 |
| A-05 | 2023 to 2025 | 2023-04-00110, 2024-04-00066, 2025-04-00022 | Appeal Board confirmed (2023), decided (2024), settled (2025) | $159,000 | $795 |
| A-06 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00111 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $723,500 | $3,618 |
| A-07 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00112 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $553,000 | $2,765 |
| A-08 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00113 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $1,954,000 | $9,770 |
| A-09 | 2023 | 2023-04-00114 | Appeal Board decided | $380,000 | $1,900 |
| A-10 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00115 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $549,000 | $2,745 |
| A-11 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00116 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $825,000 | $4,125 |
| A-12 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00117 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $462,000 | $2,310 |
| A-13 | 2023 | 2023-04-00118 | Appeal Board decided | $446,000 | $2,230 |
| A-14 | 2023 | 2023-04-00119 | Review Panel | $128,000 | $640 |
| A-15 | 2023 | 2023-04-00120 | Appeal Board settled | $89,000 | $445 |
| A-16 | 2023 | 2023-04-00121 | Appeal Board settled | $117,500 | $588 |
| A-17 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00122, 2024-04-00072 | Appeal Board settled (2023), decided (2024) | $721,000 | $3,605 |
| A-18 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00123 | Review Panel and Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $727,000 | $3,635 |
| A-19 | 2023 | 2023-04-00124 | Appeal Board decided | $346,000 | $1,730 |
| A-20 | 2023 | 2023-04-00125 | Appeal Board decided | $763,700 | $3,818 |
| A-21 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00126 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $1,039,000 | $5,195 |
| A-22 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00127 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $1,266,000 | $6,330 |
| A-23 | 2023 | 2023-04-00128 | Appeal Board decided | $83,000 | $415 |
| A-24 | 2023 | 2023-04-00129 | Review Panel reduced, Appeal Board confirmed | $211,000 | $1,055 |
| A-25 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00130 | Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $631,000 | $3,155 |
| A-26 | 2023 | 2023-04-00131, 2023-04-00132, 2023-04-00133 | Appeal Board decided (3 properties) | $1,438,000 | $7,190 |
| A-27 | 2023, 2024 | 2023-04-00034 | Review Panel and Appeal Board decided, then Review Panel | $803,000 | $4,015 |
| A-28 | 2023 | 2023-04-00039 | Appeal Board decided | $433,000 | $2,165 |
| A-29 | 2023, 2024 | Not needed | Review Panel (both years) | $706,000 | $3,530 |
| A-30 | 2023 | Not needed | Review Panel | $366,200 | $1,831 |
| A-31 | 2023 | Not needed | Review Panel | $190,200 | $951 |
| A-32 | 2023 | Not needed | Review Panel | $65,000 | $325 |
| A-33 | 2023 | Not needed | Fixed by email to BC Assessment before the hearing | $118,000 | $590 |
| A-34 | 2023 | Not needed | Fixed by email to BC Assessment before the hearing | $116,000 | $580 |
| A-35 | 2023 | Not needed | Fixed by email to BC Assessment before the hearing | $63,000 | $315 |
| Starting 2024 | |||||
| A-36 | 2024 to 2026 | Not needed | Appeal Board settled (2024); Review Panel and Appeal Board settled (2025); Review Panel (2026) | $1,308,000 | $6,540 |
| A-37 | 2024 | 2024-20-00014 | Appeal Board decided | $517,000 | $2,585 |
| Starting 2025 | |||||
| A-38 | 2025, 2026 | Not needed | Review Panel and Appeal Board settled (2025); fixed by email to BC Assessment (2026) | $502,000 | $2,510 |
| Starting 2026 | |||||
| A-39 | 2026 | 2026-01-00039 | Review Panel, then Appeal Board decided | $2,063,000 | $10,315 |
| A-40 | 2026 | Written submissions complete, awaiting the Appeal Board's decision | None | None yet | |
| 40 homeowners helped, and every homeowner who saw their appeal through won a reduction. Total reductions: | $22,658,600 | $113,294 | |||
| Average per homeowner with a reduction | $580,990 | $2,905 | |||
What the news reported
The Times Colonist put the first Youbou results on its front page. Here is what a homeowner told the paper.
Times Colonist, February 10, 2024, front page
Lake Cowichan residents win $10.5M in assessment reductions after appeals
"I could not have done it without Jason." ... "It's going to make all the difference to me."
Shelley Robinson, Honeymoon Bay, in the Times Colonist, February 10, 2024.13
$10.5 million was the first count, from the Appeal Board decisions alone. It is the number the Ministry of Finance kept giving the Minister after the real total had passed it. The full record, more than $22.6 million in reductions, is in the table above.
Every story about these appeals, and everywhere it ran, is on News Features.
What the Ministry of Finance said
The Ministry of Finance said I wasn't as successful as I made out. Its own numbers say otherwise.
"Jason Anson wasn't quite as successful in appeals as he made out but did have some success in getting some Youbou properties reduced."
Ministry of Finance, Director of Strategic Policy, internal email, August 21, 2024 (FOI).14
"Some success"? Here is the record
100%
of homeowners I personally helped who saw their appeal through won a reduction
91%
of Appeal Board decisions reduced the assessment (30 of 33)
All 3
homeowners who lost an Appeal Board decision still won a reduction, at the Review Panel or the next year
$22.6M+
in assessment reductions
Through 2024, the Ministry of Finance's Issue Notes kept telling the Minister of Finance that the Youbou Appeal Group's reductions were $10.5 million. That was an early, Appeal Board only number. By April 2024 I had already written to the Minister that I had secured reductions in 37 of 40 appeals (92.5%) and more than $15 million, and the Ministry of Finance's own March 2024 Issue Note counts the same 37 of 40 (92.5%).15
BC Assessment's own actions point the same way. On at least my last 3 appeals, its Deputy Assessor has been the case manager. In my view, that is not how anyone treats someone who only has some success.
In my view, the Minister of Finance deserved the full record, not an outdated number. The 16 month Ministry of Finance story is on my Minister of Finance page.
What BC Assessment said
BC Assessment said my statements were incorrect. Its own written submissions say otherwise.
"His statements are incorrect, we did not concede 75% of the time. In fact, we made a handful of recs based on what we found in our inspection of all 100+ properties in the area. The rest of the +/- 30 appeals are with the Board waiting for a decision."
BC Assessment, Assessor for Vancouver Island, internal email to its Vice President and CEO, November 10, 2023 (FOI).16
"A handful of recs"? Here are BC Assessment's own written submissions
28
of my 2023 appeals went to the Appeal Board: 25 decided by the Board and 3 settled before a decision
21 of 28
BC Assessment put a lower value forward or agreed to one, 75% of the time: 18 in its written submissions and 3 in joint recommendations
$3.34M
in reductions BC Assessment put forward itself on the 25 decided appeals
$11.03M
in reductions the Appeal Board set on those same 25 appeals, more than 3 times BC Assessment's number
The written submissions I have were sent between August 21 and October 10, 2023, before that email was written. Each one shows the roll value next to the value BC Assessment put forward, and across the 25 appeals the Board decided, that value was lower in 18 of them (72%).17 That is what I meant by conceding. And even when BC Assessment conceded, its number was still wrong. On those 25 appeals, the Appeal Board set a value lower than BC Assessment's own number in 21 of 25 (84%). BC Assessment's own numbers came to $3.34 million below the roll. The Board's final values came to $11.03 million below it, approximately $7.7 million more.18 In May 2023, BC Assessment's own lawyer told the Appeal Board his instructions were "not to try to defend the roll values at all."19
On February 21, 2024, after a reporter asked BC Assessment about my press release on the Appeal Board results, a member of BC Assessment's communications staff wrote to the Assessor and BC Assessment's Director of Communication and Government Relations: "I can check. To be honest, this looks to me", and the rest of that sentence is blacked out.20
What these records show
Neither the Minister of Finance nor BC Assessment's executives were given accurate information about my record.
The records show the Minister of Finance was given an outdated, Appeal Board only number after the Ministry of Finance had my full count in its own files. They show BC Assessment's Vice President and Chief Executive Officer were told BC Assessment made "a handful of recs" when its own written submissions recommended a lower value in 18 of 25 appeals (72%). In my view, neither was given accurate information about my record.
Much of what was written about me is still blacked out. In BC Assessment's release, 62 of 263 records (24%) were withheld in full. In the Ministry of Finance's release, 57 of 205 records (28%) have parts blacked out.21 I am putting what I do have in public, with every Appeal Board file number, so anyone can check it.
From the inside: what the BC Assessment whistleblower said
"That is another test of the roll quality is that how much did you lose at PARP? Because I guarantee you that for every one person that goes to PARP, there's probably another 5 or 6 that should have gone."
BC Assessment whistleblower, telephone call, May 2023 (FOI transcript).22
The whistleblower said for every homeowner who appeals, another 5 or 6 should have. BC Assessment's own numbers point the same way.
"Another 5 or 6 that should have gone"? Here is what the numbers show
PARP is the Property Assessment Review Panel. He was describing a test of how good the assessment roll is: how often BC Assessment loses at the Review Panel. In 2023, BC Assessment received 844 single family dwelling complaints. At his 5 or 6 for every 1, another 4,220 to 5,064 had the same issues and never appealed.
My own check points the same way. Of 7,079 Vancouver Island home sales I compared with their assessments, 40% were assessed above what they sold for.6 In my view, most of those owners never knew they could win. That is why I publish this record: so the next homeowner can see that appealing works. More of what he said, checked against the record, is on The BC Assessment Whistleblower Files.
Who is really here to help
BC Assessment tells you to contact it if your assessment looks wrong. These records show what happened when the Youbou homeowners did.
Every January, BC Assessment tells owners who believe their assessment does not reflect actual market value that they "should contact BC Assessment as indicated on their notice as soon as possible in January."23 The Youbou homeowners and I did exactly that. I sent the evidence to BC Assessment, asked to talk through the merits and filed the appeals.
In May 2023, with those appeals still open, BC Assessment's Assessor for Vancouver Island told the Cowichan Valley Citizen: "During the month of January, we have an inquiry period for property owners to share their concerns and where we help to answer any questions." In the same article, I told the reporter that BC Assessment's Deputy Assessor had asked me to stop emailing them the evidence.11
Here is what the records show happened next. The Review Panel Administrator, inside the Ministry of Finance, asked Ministry staff to tell him about any letters about me.24 BC Assessment's Assessor told its Vice President and its Chief Executive Officer that it made "a handful of recs," when its own written submissions recommended a lower value in 18 of 25 appeals (72%). The Minister of Finance was given an outdated number. In my view, that is not what help looks like, and these records show who homeowners are really dealing with.
BC Assessment is still saying it. In January 2026, when a Youbou homeowner wrote to the Premier about his assessment, BC Assessment told the Cowichan Valley Citizen it could not discuss individual appeals, and added: "We welcome any property owner with any questions or concerns about their property assessment to connect with us. We are here to help."25 The Youbou homeowners did connect with it, and this page shows what came back.
That is why I built my own tools. They are backed by real numbers: real sales, BC Assessment's own records and the decisions on this page, not BC Assessment's word.
BC Assessment Check
A 1 hour one on one call where I go through the sold comparables in your neighbourhood with you and tell you plainly whether you have an appeal.
Book a BC Assessment CheckProperty record cards
My free step by step guide to getting the record BC Assessment keeps on your home, including the internal notes most homeowners never knew existed.
Get Your Property Record CardDIY Appeal Guides
The same templates and steps behind this record, so you can file and argue your own appeal with real evidence.
See the DIY Appeal GuidesStraight answers
The questions homeowners ask most, answered from the record, from how your home is valued to what happens at a hearing.
Get Straight AnswersThe Review Panel
How the Review Panel hearing works, what the panel reads and how to prepare for your hearing.
Prepare for the Review PanelThe Appeal Board
How to take your appeal to the independent tribunal that decided 33 of the appeals on this page and reduced the assessment in 30 (91%).
Prepare for the Appeal BoardCommon questions
About this record
Why are the homeowners not named?
These are people's homes and property taxes, so I list them by appellant number only. The Appeal Board file numbers are public, which means the results can still be checked without naming anyone. I also keep a private working copy that matches each appellant number to the homeowner and their documents, so if my numbers are ever audited, I can prove every one of them.
Do you include the appeals you lost?
Yes. The 3 Appeal Board decisions that confirmed the assessment are in the table. All 3 homeowners who lost at the Board still won a reduction. One had already won at the Review Panel, and the other 2 won at the Appeal Board in a later year. A record that only shows wins is not a record.
What does "fixed by email to BC Assessment" mean?
You can get out in front of the hearing. I sent the evidence straight to BC Assessment, made the case, and asked for the reduction. When BC Assessment agreed, it confirmed by email that it would recommend the lower value to the Review Panel. The Review Panel still has to confirm it, so the appeal stays on the hearing docket, but BC Assessment makes the reduction request on the homeowner's behalf. In most cases the homeowner does not even have to attend, although they still can. That only works when the evidence package is ready, which is why I count it as part of the Review Panel level and not as a shortcut.
Why do some homeowners show more than 1 roll year?
Each roll year is its own appeal and is decided on its own. Decisions often take long enough that they overlap the next year, so the homeowner files the following year as well, which I call a holding appeal, to reserve their right. In my experience, once the earlier year's value changes, BC Assessment comes back and adjusts the next year too. So a homeowner can show reductions over several years that all stem from that first win. If BC Assessment raises the value again, the homeowner appeals again, and that year is decided as its own year. Of the 40 homeowners in the table, 22 (55%) needed 1 roll year, 15 (38%) needed 2, and 3 (8%) needed 3. The reduction shown is the total across every roll year they appealed with my help.
Can I check these results myself?
Yes. Every appeal that reached the Property Assessment Appeal Board has a public file number, listed in the table, and you can look up each one on the Board's appeal status site. The wins and the losses are both there.
Why does this record count results, not homeowners?
A homeowner can win at more than one level and in more than one roll year, and each of those is a separate result. 40 homeowners are on this record, and across them, 63 of the 65 appeals that were decided or settled lowered the value (97%). The table shows each homeowner once, with the total reduction across every year they appealed.
How often did the Appeal Board go below BC Assessment's own recommendation?
On my 2023 appeals, BC Assessment put a lower value forward itself in 18 of the 25 the Appeal Board decided (72%), for $3.34 million in reductions. The Board then set the value lower than BC Assessment's own figure in 21 of the 25 (84%), for $11.03 million, approximately $7.7 million more. Even when BC Assessment conceded, its number was still too high.
A note on the record
These appeals were decided between 2023 and 2026, under the previous government. The results stand on their own, and the new government can check every one.
What a new government could do: Publish appeal results every year, by level and by type of property, so homeowners can see what I had to build myself.
Think your BC Assessment is too high?
Start with your address and check your eligibility.
Check My PropertySources
- BC Assessment, "Over 98% of Property Owners Agree with their 2023 Assessments," news release, April 14, 2023: 30,268 property assessments appealed for 2023, 1.4% of 2,165,806 properties.
- BC Assessment, letter to me on FOI request 2024-29, October 7, 2024, in BC Assessment FOI file 2025-10, pages 87 to 89 (Bates 0075 to 0077): 844 single family dwelling complaints in 2023, 761 completed as of October 3, 2024; 602 in 2024, 323 completed.
- Robert Barron, "Cowichan realtor files complaint over BC Assessment’s failure to provide information," Cowichan Valley Citizen, January 16, 2025; my request for review to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, December 23, 2024, on BC Assessment FOI file 2024-29.
- Property Assessment Appeal Board, response to my freedom of information request 20241121-1, letter from the Registrar, December 17, 2024: the Board manages appeals in a residential stream and an "industrial, commercial and investment" (IC&I) stream; class 1 development land, multi-family homes, care homes and additional school tax appeals are managed in the IC&I stream. Residential stream, 2023: 677 new appeals, 804 in total. Single family dwellings (actual use code 000), 2023: 417 in the year, 137 completed by recommendation, 109 by decision, 66 withdrawn, 45 dismissed, 60 open at December 31, 2023.
- Property Assessment Appeal Board, 2023 Annual Report, pages 14 to 15: residential properties were 49% of properties appealed in 2023, and utilities, industrial and commercial properties 48%; class 1 residential includes development lands, multiple-family homes and care homes managed in the IC&I stream, and properties with split classification are counted more than once.
- My Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026: 7,079 arm's length single family sales in 2025 compared with their 2026 assessed values, across 7 regional districts and 73 tax jurisdictions.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, page 942: email from the Review Panel Administrator to me, "RE: Freedom of Information Request," July 8, 2024.
- Property Assessment Appeal Board, response to my freedom of information request 20250903-1, October 2, 2025, single family dwellings (actual use code 000), 2024: 42 appeals completed by decision. The Youbou Appeal Group's decisions were issued in February 2024.
- Estimated property tax refund or credit, worked out conservatively at $500 for every $100,000 of reduction. Actual refunds depend on each local tax rate and were often higher.
- Property Assessment Review Panel, group hearing for the Youbou waterfront complaints, February 27, 2023, recording, the panel chair on "overwhelming the panel with information".
- Robert Barron, "Youbou property owners frustrated with appeal process," Cowichan Valley Citizen, May 19, 2023.
- Andy Ross, video "without Jason," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8iNFYmCsqc; Property Assessment Appeal Board, Appeal Nos. 2023-04-00106, 2023-04-00107, 2024-04-00073, 2024-04-00074 and 2025-04-00064, and the 2024 Property Assessment Review Panel.
- Times Colonist, "Lake Cowichan residents win $10.5M in assessment reductions after appeals," February 10, 2024, front page. Read the article
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, page 958: email from the Director of Strategic Policy to the Acting Executive Director, copied to the Review Panel Administrator, August 21, 2024.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: Issue Notes for the Minister of Finance dated March 6, 2024 (pages 684 to 686), May 16, 2024 (pages 940 to 941) and August 16, 2024 (pages 955 to 957); my April 8, 2024 letter to the Minister of Finance (pages 936 to 937).
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, page 427 (Bates 0485): email from the Assessor, Vancouver Island Region, to the Vice President, Assessment, copied to the Chief Executive Officer, November 10, 2023.
- BC Assessment written submissions (reply reports) to the Property Assessment Appeal Board for appeals 2023-04-00105 to 2023-04-00132, dated August 21 to October 10, 2023, page 1 and the Assessor's summary of each; for 2023-04-00125 and 2023-04-00133, the Assessor's position as recorded in the Appeal Board decisions. 18 of 25 put forward a lower value and 7 defended the roll or Review Panel value; 3 more appeals settled when BC Assessment and the homeowner agreed on a lower value.
- Property Assessment Appeal Board decisions on the 25 appeals in note 8, compared with the roll value and BC Assessment's position for each. BC Assessment's own numbers total $3,344,000 below the roll; the Board's final values, as ordered, total $11,028,700 below the roll.
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, pages 1157 to 1160 (Bates 1255 to 1258): email from BC Assessment's counsel to the Appeal Board and the parties, May 25, 2023.
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, page 940 (Bates 1030): email chain "Press release Youbou", February 21, 2024; the rest of the sentence is withheld under section 22.
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, released July 10, 2025: 263 records, 62 withheld in full under sections 13, 14, 17 and 22. Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, released May 29, 2026: 205 records, 57 with parts withheld under sections 13, 14, 15, 17 and 22.
- The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded telephone call with me, May 2023; transcript sent to the Property Assessment Appeal Board on May 11, 2023, and released in Ministry of Finance FOI file FIN-2025-52395.
- BC Assessment, Vancouver Island 2026 Property Assessments Announced, January 2, 2026.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 328 and 897 to 898: email from the Review Panel Administrator to Ministry of Finance staff, April 28, 2023.
- Cowichan Valley Citizen, Robert Barron, "Youbou property owner appeals to premier over house assessment," January 20, 2026.