The Record follows a homeowner's concern about BC Assessment through the offices that are supposed to hear it, and shows where it stands today.
BC Assessment says its assessments are independent, uniform and efficient. Who checks?
BC Assessment describes its job as producing "independent, uniform and efficient property assessments" every year.1 In my experience, no one checks that it does. Since 2023 I have taken the evidence from my appeals, my freedom of information requests and my tax roll audits to the 4 offices a homeowner can complain to: the Premier, the Minister of Finance, their MLA and their regional district, mayor and council. Each one pointed somewhere else, or did not answer.
BC Assessment points to its own numbers. Its Assessor said in April 2025: "Less than 1% of properties were appealed, meaning more than 99% of property owners accepted their assessments as fair and accurate without appealing."2 But BC Assessment also asked the homeowners who did appeal whether it is "fair and accurate," in a survey, and it has blacked out their answers. That is now in front of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, at inquiry.3
The Appeal Board fixes 1 value at a time. It has the power under the Assessment Act to order a wider fix, and I have asked it to 3 times. Each time, it did not.4 Meanwhile, my 2026 Vancouver Island audit found BC Assessment's value matched the sale price exactly on 63 of 7,079 homes, less than 1% of the time.5 BC Assessment says the roll meets international standards.6 The BC Assessment whistleblower described the same target from the inside: an assessment to sale ratio close to 97%.7 In my view, hitting an average is not the same as getting your home right, and by the time the previous government left office, no one with the power to look at the whole roll had looked. That is why the record goes to the Auditor General, who can do a performance audit.
The roll is only half of it. The Review Panel's Administrator told me the Appeal Board does not review how the Review Panel conducts itself.8 An appeal decides the value of a single home. It does not deal with how you were treated, and there is no clear place to complain. At a 2024 Appraisal Institute of Canada webinar, an appraiser asked whether there is a way to complain about bias in the appeal process. BC Assessment's representative answered: "No, I will not speak to bias."9 When I asked the Ministry of Finance, the Deputy Minister sent me back to BC Assessment's own Chief Executive Officer, its Board Chair or the Ombudsperson.10 That is why the record goes to the Ombudsperson.
4
offices a homeowner can complain to about BC Assessment, from the Premier to their local council. Each one sent the complaint back to BC Assessment or the appeal system, or left it unanswered.
1,084
pages of records the Ministry of Finance held on me, by name. It is the ministry responsible for BC Assessment, and the office homeowners complain to.11
136
pages blacked out of BC Assessment's survey asking homeowners if its assessments are "fair and accurate." BC Assessment says they are, but will not release what homeowners said. It is now at inquiry before the Information and Privacy Commissioner.3
Where a homeowner complains
The 4 offices a homeowner can complain to, and where each one sent me
1 of 4
The Premier
Leads the government BC Assessment answers to.
What was asked
On January 2, 2026, John Duggan, a Youbou homeowner I have helped, wrote to the Premier of the previous government. BC Assessment had overassessed his home 3 years in a row, $1,308,000 in all, approximately $6,540 in extra property tax. Each year it took an appeal to fix.13 "I can no longer understand these outcomes as isolated errors or a self-correcting process," he wrote.14
What came back
The Premier's office passed it to the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry asked BC Assessment. BC Assessment said the 2026 value came from "a processing error."15 That is the circle in a single letter.
Where it was sent
Back to BC Assessment, the body the letter was about.
2 of 4
The Minister of Finance
Gives BC Assessment its mandate letter and runs the Review Panel.
What was asked
From 2023 to 2025, homeowners and I wrote to the Minister about how BC Assessment and the Review Panel treated us, and whether the Review Panel is independent. On September 14, 2026, I also sent the Minister my Vancouver Island audit.
What came back
The letters went to the Review Panel Administrator, the office homeowners were complaining about, to draft the answer. The Ministry's Executive Director reviewed it, and BC Assessment was kept informed.16 Meanwhile, the Ministry's Issue Notes gave the Minister the line that the outcome "shows the process is working."17 The homeowner's question was answered by the people it was about. The audit was not answered at all.18
Where it was sent
To the Review Panel Administrator inside the Ministry, and on to BC Assessment.
3 of 4
Your MLA and the Opposition
Pass the laws BC Assessment works under and hold the government to account.
What was asked
Since 2023 I have copied opposition MLAs on my complaints.19 On September 14, 2026, I sent each of the 15 Vancouver Island MLAs the audit for their own riding, every home sold there in 2025, and asked: "Are you satisfied that the property owners in [your riding] paid a fair share of the 2026 property tax, yes or no?"
What came back
None answered yes or no, including the Minister of Finance and 6 other cabinet ministers in the previous government. 8 sent only an automatic reply.18
Where it was sent
Nowhere. With no answer, the question went no further.
4 of 4
Your regional district, mayor and council
Set the tax rates that turn BC Assessment's values into your tax bill, and pay back the refunds when an appeal wins.
What was asked
On September 11, 2026, I sent the audit to all 7 regional district boards on Vancouver Island, and to every mayor and council and every electoral area director inside them, 79 in all, in office before the October 17, 2026 local elections. Each one received the results for its own area and the same question: "Is [your community] satisfied that everyone paid a fair share of the 2026 property tax, yes or no?"
What came back
17 replied, approximately 22%. Only 1 gave a plain answer, the Director for Nanoose Bay: "YES!" In Nanoose Bay, none of the 109 homes sold in 2025 was assessed at what the buyer paid. They ran from 69.6% to 131.0% of the sale price.18 No one else gave a plain yes or no. The rest pointed to BC Assessment, the Province or the appeal process, or asked BC Assessment to answer the findings. In my view, that is how obvious the problem is, and how little anyone takes ownership of it.
Where it was sent
Back to BC Assessment, the Province, my MLA or the appeal process.
What the elected officials said
I asked every MLA, regional district, mayor and council on Vancouver Island the same yes or no question. 17 replied. Only 1 said "YES!"
In September 2026, I sent my 2026 Vancouver Island audit to all 15 Vancouver Island MLAs, the 7 regional district boards, and every mayor and council and electoral area director inside them. Each one received the results for its own area and the same question: did everyone pay a fair share of the 2026 property tax, yes or no?
These were the MLAs, mayors, councils and regional directors in office in September 2026. Local elections followed on October 17, 2026, and the provincial election on October 24, 2026.
The MLAs
0 of 15
answered yes or no, and 7 of them sat in cabinet, including the Minister of Finance.18 The full record is on The Legislative Assembly.
Regional districts, mayors and councils
17 of 79
replied, approximately 22%. Only 1 gave a plain answer, the Director for Nanoose Bay: "YES!" Most of the rest pointed to BC Assessment, the Province or the appeal process. Every reply is on Councils and Regional Districts.20
In my view, the pattern was the same as everywhere else in the record. Most would not answer, and the few who looked at the numbers were concerned.
No one has shown my numbers are wrong
My 2026 Vancouver Island audit compared 7,079 home sales with what BC Assessment said each home was worth.5 In September 2026 I put it in front of the Minister of Finance, all 15 Vancouver Island MLAs, the 7 regional districts and every mayor and council inside them, and BC Assessment. By the time the October 2026 local and provincial elections changed who held those seats, BC Assessment had not answered it. The closest it came was its Deputy Assessor for Vancouver Island telling a newspaper in July 2026: "BC Assessment is well within the international standards for accuracy and uniformity for the Township of Sidney."6 A few local officials questioned my method, for example that a sale price is not always the assessed value. Several asked for the same thing I did: that BC Assessment answer the findings.20
Where every road led
Every office sent me back to BC Assessment and the appeal system
The Premier's office sent John Duggan's letter to the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry asked BC Assessment. The Minister's replies were drafted by the Review Panel Administrator, while the Minister was briefed that the outcome "shows the process is working." Councils and directors pointed to BC Assessment, the Province or the appeal process. The MLAs did not answer.
In the end, every complaint landed back with BC Assessment. And BC Assessment's answer is its own number: 99% of owners accept their assessments as "fair and accurate." So I asked to see the evidence behind it.
BC Assessment's own survey
BC Assessment asked homeowners if it was "fair and accurate." Then it blacked out their answers.
"Fair and accurate" are BC Assessment's own words. Its Assessor uses them to describe the 99% of owners who do not appeal.2 In April 2025, BC Assessment hired Leger to ask homeowners who had just appealed whether its process is "fair" and its values are "accurate." The invitation promised: "Results will be provided only in aggregate to BC Assessment and associated BC Ministries."21
When I asked for those same overall results, BC Assessment blacked out the report, pages 7 to 142, so no one can see what homeowners said. I complained to the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the file is now going to inquiry, which could take up to 2 years.3 BC Assessment had the results by June 2025. In April 2026, it again tied its low appeal rate to "fair and accurate" assessments.22
In the survey, BC Assessment asked homeowners to rate these statements. It will not share their answers, so here is what the record shows. In my view, the record answers each one.
"BC Assessment provides assessments that accurately reflect property values"
In my 2026 Vancouver Island audit, BC Assessment's value matched the sale price exactly on 63 of 7,079 homes, less than 1% of the time. 4,211 homes were assessed below what they sold for, and 2,805 above.5
"The way BC Assessment values properties is fair (FYI: valuations are based on sale prices of similar properties)"
Every homeowner I personally helped who saw an appeal through won a reduction, more than $22.6 million in all, an average of approximately $566,000 each.13
"Overall, the appeal process is a fair one"
At the Youbou Appeal Group's hearing, the Review Panel said it was being overwhelmed with information and upheld all 23 assessments without deciding them on the evidence.23 When the Appeal Board looked at the evidence, it lowered 22 of the 25 it decided.13
"Overall, the hearing process was fair"
The Minister's Office later wrote to a Youbou owner: "in retrospect, better communication between all the parties might have avoided some of the issues that arose."24
"BC Assessment provides impartial property valuations"
On my 2023 appeals, BC Assessment's own recommended values added up to $3.34 million in reductions. The Appeal Board's decisions added up to $11.03 million, more than 3 times as much.13
"BC Assessment and the Review Panel are separate and independent of each other"
The people on a panel may decide on their own on the day. In my view, the system around them is not separate. The Ministry of Finance runs the Review Panel. BC Assessment set my hearing schedule and sent it to the Review Panel Administrator, who replied "Works for me."25 The Ministry's own draft reply says approximately 10 panel members used to work for BC Assessment.26
Where it stands today
3 independent offices can still check. I am waiting on all 3.
These 3 offices answer to the Legislature, not to the Minister of Finance. When every office in government sent me back to BC Assessment, these were the ones left. I did not set out to go to them. I followed the road, and this is where it led. Here is where each one stands.
At inquiry
The Information and Privacy Commissioner
Decides which records a public body must release. It does not decide whether your assessment is right.
What I asked
On 23 freedom of information requests, BC Assessment's fee estimates came to $11,047.06.27 I fought the fees through a long series of appeals and in the end paid only $30, on a single request: the Leger survey, where BC Assessment asked homeowners whether it is "fair and accurate." When the survey came back, every answer was blacked out. So while BC Assessment tells the public its assessments are "fair and accurate," it will not release what homeowners actually said. I took that to the Commissioner.28
Where it stands
The survey file is now at inquiry. An independent adjudicator will decide whether BC Assessment can withhold homeowners' answers. That could take up to 2 years.3
Next
The Auditor General
Audits whether public bodies do what they say they do.
What I asked
On October 20, 2026, I asked for guidance before sending an audit suggestion, on this question: "Does BC Assessment have reliable evidence that the assessment roll is fair and accurate, and does its public reporting actually measure whether properties are assessed accurately and equitably?" I asked whether the office would consider a performance audit.12
Where it stands
No answer yet. The last review of how BC Assessment works was done inside the Ministry of Finance in 2016.29
Then
The Ombudsperson
Looks at how public bodies treat people.
What I asked
BC Assessment asked homeowners whether its appeal process is "a fair one." But there is no independent place to complain about how you were treated, and when an appraiser asked about bias, BC Assessment would not speak to it. On October 20, 2026, I asked the Ombudsperson for guidance on bringing a complaint: were the homeowners' complaints to BC Assessment, the Review Panel and the Ministry of Finance handled properly, and should complaints about BC Assessment and the Review Panel be decided by someone independent of both?30
Where it stands
No answer yet.
Why it is public
Why I am putting the record in public
This record is about the Youbou Appeal Group, homeowners who appealed their assessments in 2023, 2024 and 2025. While they appealed, BC Assessment, the Review Panel Administrator and the Ministry of Finance were writing about them, and about me, behind the scenes.
I only found out through freedom of information: 1,305 pages from BC Assessment and 1,084 pages from the Ministry of Finance. In my view, it is among the best documented assessment appeals in BC. Homeowners, journalists and the people now in office deserve to see it too.
Every page here shows what was sent, what came back and the documents behind it. Journalists can find what the records say about my work on the For Journalists page.
The files behind every stop
What each office was told, and what the records show
Every stop on The Record has its own stories, built from the letters, the replies and the records released to me. Start with the office you want to know about.
Stop 1: The Office of the Premier
6 storiesThe Processing Error Files
A letter to the Premier, and the reply that called 1 year of it "a processing error."
- BC Assessment called it "a processing error." Its 2026 value skipped the appeal it had settled months earlier
- A Youbou homeowner wrote to the Premier about BC Assessment. The Minister of Finance answered 31 days later
- $1,308,000 in 3 years: how a Youbou cabin's BC Assessment came down on appeal, year after year
- Read all 6 stories in The Processing Error Files
Stop 2: The Minister of Finance
13 storiesThe Process Is Working Files
What the Minister was told, and who checked the briefing.
- BC Assessment complaints reached the Minister of Finance as an "Issue Note." Here is what it told the Minister
- "Ok with this?" BC Assessment drew up the Review Panel schedule for 23 homeowners, and the Review Panel said "Works for me"
- 37 of 40 BC Assessment appeals reduced. The Minister of Finance was told $10.5 million and "the process is working"
- Read all 13 stories in The Process Is Working Files
Stop 3: The Legislative Assembly
17 storiesThe Riding Files
Every Vancouver Island riding, its 2026 roll, and the question its MLA was asked.
- 15 Vancouver Island MLAs were asked 1 yes or no question about BC Assessment's 2026 roll. None of them answered it
- A 98% median and less than 1% of homes right: how BC Assessment's 2026 roll can pass the standard and still move your property tax
- Cowichan Valley: 4 of 416 homes sold in the District of North Cowichan matched BC Assessment's 2026 value. Did owners pay a fair share?
- Read all 17 stories in The Riding Files
Stop 4: Councils and Regional Districts
15 storiesThe Fair Share Files
What mayors, councils and regional directors said when they were asked.
- "YES!" The only plain answer to a BC Assessment fair share question came from Nanoose Bay, where not 1 of 109 homes sold matched its 2026 value
- "I suspect not": Nanaimo's mayor on whether everyone pays a fair share, and what 954 home sales showed on BC Assessment's 2026 roll
- 79 Vancouver Island mayors, councils and directors were asked if residents paid a fair share of the 2026 property tax. 17 replied, and 1 said yes
- Read all 15 stories in The Fair Share Files
Next: The Information and Privacy Commissioner
18 storiesThe 99 Percent Files
BC Assessment's 99% "fair and accurate" claim, and the homeowner survey it will not release.
What the homeowners said
A homeowner on what it was like to complain. Here is what he said.
Andy Ross was one of the Youbou waterfront homeowners. He wrote to BC Assessment, the Review Panel and the Minister of Finance. In this clip, he describes how he was treated by the system.
Across 4 appeals on his home and his lot, from 2023 to 2025, his assessments came down $815,500.31 An appeal fixed his value. Nothing fixed how he was treated, and that is why the record goes to the Ombudsperson.
"...the government is supposed to work for me and I've been pushed around, shoved around, stonewalled."
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
What the news reported
BC Assessment answered 1 audit in public. Here is what I told the paper.
Saanich News and Peninsula News Review, July 21, 2026
Sidney assessment appeal raises concerns around BC Assessment process
"Mr. Butterfield's own analysis puts Sidney's top-end market under-assessed by two to three points. That's not a defence of the roll, that's a confirmation of exactly the pattern my study found."
Jason Anson, quoted in the Saanich News, July 21, 2026, replying to BC Assessment's Deputy Assessor for Vancouver Island.32
In Sidney, 101 homes sold in 2025. 48 were assessed within 5% of what they sold for, 48%. 44 were assessed above what they sold for, 44%, by a combined $2.33 million. BC Assessment's answer was that it is "well within the international standards for accuracy and uniformity."6
Every story about these appeals, and everywhere it ran, is on News Features.
What the Ministry of Finance said
The Ministry of Finance said it is responsible for BC Assessment, but does not provide oversight. Its own records show what it did do.
"The Ministry of Finance, while responsible for BCA, does not set out detailed policy level directives or provide oversight that you refer to in your letter."
The Deputy Minister of Finance, in a letter to me, May 15, 2025. Released to me under freedom of information.10
"Responsible for BCA"? Here is what the Ministry of Finance was doing
Mandate letter
BC Assessment's mandate letter comes from the Minister of Finance
Review Panel
the Ministry of Finance runs the Review Panel, the first place an appeal is heard
91
of the 205 records it released about me involve the Review Panel Administrator, 27 of them with BC Assessment
16 months
of Issue Notes briefing the Minister on me with an outdated $10.5 million figure
In BC Assessment's own words, "the Ministry of Finance oversees PARP."14 When homeowners wrote to the Minister, the Review Panel Administrator drafted the replies.17 In my view, under the previous government, the Ministry did not oversee BC Assessment. Its replies defended it.
What BC Assessment said
BC Assessment says it has nothing to do with the Review Panel. Its own emails show it was talking with the official who runs it.
When you appeal your assessment, your first hearing is at the Review Panel. It is supposed to be a neutral referee between you and BC Assessment. In May 2023, a reporter asked BC Assessment about the Youbou homeowners' hearing. This is what it said:
"At BC Assessment, we participate in the PARP and PAAB process but do not have oversight or accountability of these functions."
BC Assessment, to a reporter, May 10, 2023. PARP is the Review Panel and PAAB is the Appeal Board. Released to me under freedom of information.33
What its own emails show happened behind the scenes
May 10, 2023
The same morning, BC Assessment's media staff planned to ask the Review Panel Administrator, the official who runs the Review Panel, what to tell the reporter.
May 18, 2023
I complained to the Minister about how the Review Panel handled the hearing. The Administrator passed my complaint to BC Assessment, marked "FYI".
June 12, 2023
BC Assessment passed my letter back to the Administrator with the note "FYI ~as discussed".
What this means for you: the official who runs the referee's office and the other side in your appeal were talking about the homeowners' case, and the homeowners were not part of that conversation.33 In my view, BC Assessment never sat down with the homeowners to work it out. Its own emails show it was in touch with the Review Panel office instead. In my view, that is not how a neutral referee works.
From the inside
The BC Assessment whistleblower said transparency was the problem
"BC Assessment doesn't want to be as transparent as we would hope they would be because it would show many of the problems."
The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded call, May 2023 (FOI transcript).34
1,305
pages of records BC Assessment held on me, by name, released under my own personal request
1,084
pages of records the Ministry of Finance held on me, by name11
136
pages of BC Assessment's survey of homeowners still blacked out3
That is why this record exists. Every office on this page could have asked for the same documents I did. More of what he said is on The BC Assessment Whistleblower Files.
Common questions
Who checks BC Assessment?
Who owns BC Assessment?
BC Assessment is a provincial Crown corporation. The Province appoints its Board of Directors, and it is accountable to the Government of B.C.1 Its mandate letter comes from the Minister of Finance.35 So the Province owns it, but it is not a government ministry.
Who oversees BC Assessment?
On paper, its Board of Directors and, above it, the Minister of Finance. But when I asked, the Deputy Minister of Finance wrote that the Ministry does not provide the oversight I referred to.10 No office checks whether your own assessment is right. That part is up to you.
Is BC Assessment independent?
BC Assessment says its assessments are independent.1 It is owned by the Province, its mandate letter comes from the Minister of Finance, and the Ministry of Finance runs the Review Panel that hears your first appeal. BC Assessment asked homeowners in its own survey whether it is independent, and it has blacked out their answers. In my view, the people on a panel may decide on their own, but the system around them is not independent.
What is a BC Assessment Notice of Complaint?
Despite the name, a Notice of Complaint is not a complaint about BC Assessment. It is the form you use to appeal your assessment to the Review Panel, and it is due by January 31. An appeal decides the value of your home and nothing else. It does not deal with how you were treated.8
How do I complain about how BC Assessment treated me?
There is no independent complaint process inside the appeal system. You can write to BC Assessment, the Minister of Finance and your MLA, and this page shows what happens when you do. The offices that are independent of the government are the Ombudsperson, for how a public body treated you, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner, for records a public body will not release. I have gone to both.
When was BC Assessment's work last reviewed?
Its financial statements are audited every year. The last review of how it works that I have found is the September 2016 Review of BC Assessment Authority by the Ministry of Finance's Internal Audit and Advisory Services, 10 years ago.29 I have not found an Auditor General audit of BC Assessment, which is why I asked the Auditor General.
Who is really here to help
Be skeptical of what you are told. Check it yourself.
This record shows what homeowners went through on appeal, and what was said about them behind the scenes. BC Assessment encourages homeowners to contact it with any questions. In my view, after what this record shows, homeowners should be skeptical of what they are told and check for themselves. None of the offices on this page will look at your assessment for you. If your value looks wrong, it is up to you to find the error and prove it.
I had to build my own tools and strategies to do that, backed by real sales and real Appeal Board decisions. Every homeowner I personally helped who saw their appeal through won a reduction. I am making them public so other homeowners can use what I learned to protect themselves. If you want me in your corner, here is how I can help with your appeal.
BC Assessment Check
A 1 hour one on one call where I go through the sold comparables in your neighbourhood with you and I 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 my appeal 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 my appeals and reduced the assessment in 30 (91%).
Prepare for the Appeal BoardA note on the record
Everything on this site happened between 2023 and 2026, under the previous provincial government, the local councils and regional boards in office before the October 17, 2026 local elections, and the people who held these roles at the time. The record is now complete. A new provincial government and new local councils are now in office with a fresh start, and I invite the Premier, the Minister of Finance, the BC Assessment board and every mayor, council and regional board to read it and learn from it. This is not a complaint about them. It is what happened.
What a new government could do
- Ask the Auditor General for a performance audit of whether the roll is accurate home by home, not only on average.
- Publish appeal results every year: how many homeowners appeal, at each level, and how often they win.
- Create an independent place to complain about how BC Assessment and the Review Panel treat people.
- Test every new roll against the year's sales and publish, for each community, how many homes were assessed within 5% of what they sold for.
No one is checking your assessment. Will you?
Start with your address and see how your BC Assessment compares to what homes like yours actually sold for.
Check My PropertySources
- BC Assessment, About BC Assessment.
- BC Assessment, More than 99% of Property Owners Agree with their 2025 Assessments, news release, April 16, 2025, quoting Bryan Murao, Assessor, BC Assessment.
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-34, response of March 25, 2026: pages 7 to 105 withheld under section 13(1) and pages 106 to 142 under sections 13(1) and 22(1); Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, file F-26-01006, emails of October 22, 26 and 27, 2026, moving the file to inquiry.
- Property Assessment Appeal Board: costs and section 57(4) decision on my 2023 Youbou appeals, February 23, 2024; decision 2026 BCPAAB 20263614, October 22, 2026; and my other requests to the Board, 2023 to 2026.
- 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.
- Peninsula News Review and Victoria News, Bailey Seymour, July 21, 2026, "Sidney assessment appeal raises concerns around BC Assessment process," quoting BC Assessment's Deputy Assessor for Vancouver Island.
- The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded telephone call, May 2023.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 336 to 340: emails from the Property Assessment Review Panel Administrator to me, May 16, 2023.
- Appraisal Institute of Canada, BC Chapter, webinar "Demystifying the Assessment Appeal Process," January 2024, as transcribed in Appendix A of my May 5, 2025 letter to the Minister of Finance (Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 623 to 626).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 285 to 286: letter from the Deputy Minister of Finance to me, May 15, 2025.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, released May 28 and 29, 2026: 1,084 pages; Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, file INV-F-26-01608, June 1, 2026.
- My request for guidance before submitting an audit suggestion, sent to the Office of the Auditor General, October 20, 2026.
- My BC Assessment Appeal Record: Property Assessment Appeal Board decisions on the appeals I helped with, and BC Assessment's written submissions for my 2023 appeals, files 2023-04-00105 to 2023-04-00133.
- Cowichan Valley Citizen, Robert Barron, "Youbou property owner appeals to premier over house assessment," January 20, 2026, quoting the homeowner's letter to the Premier.
- Letter from the Office of the Minister of Finance, Ref 517669, February 4, 2026, replying to the homeowner's January 2, 2026 letter to the Premier, copied to the Premier.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 341 to 342 and 825 to 826 (May 18, 2023), 606 to 611 (May 29 to June 1, 2023), 657 to 658 (June 2024), 620 to 622 and 1025 to 1029 (May 2025). The Review Panel Administrator is a sender or recipient on 91 of the 205 records in the release, 27 of them with BC Assessment.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: my April 8, 2024 letter to the Minister of Finance (pages 936 to 937) and the 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 letters of September 11, 2026 to the 7 regional districts on Vancouver Island and the mayors, councils and electoral area directors inside them, and of September 14, 2026 to the 15 Vancouver Island MLAs, including the Minister of Finance, and the replies received; the Director for Electoral Area E, Nanoose Bay, reply of September 12, 2026.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 633 to 634 and 821 to 822 (June 2023): my complaints copied to the Minister and opposition MLAs.
- Replies from local government officials to my Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026, September and October 2026, quoted by title.
- The Leger survey of 2025 Review Panel appellants, commissioned by BC Assessment: the invitation from BC Assessment's appeals office, April 23, 2025, and the questionnaire as received by the appellants I helped (open April 14 to May 5, 2025).
- BC Assessment, Nearly 99% of Property Owners Agree with their 2026 Assessments, news release, April 27, 2026.
- Property Assessment Review Panel, group hearing for the Youbou waterfront complaints, February 27, 2023, recording, the panel chair on "overwhelming the panel with information".
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 604 to 605: the Minister's Office reply to a Youbou owner, Ref 501074, May 17, 2023.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 310 to 311: email from BC Assessment to the Review Panel Administrator, and his reply, February 22, 2023.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 287 to 288: the Minister's Office draft reply, Ref 513725, undated.
- BC Assessment fee estimate letters, 2024 to 2025, on FOI files from me and another homeowner; Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, file INV-F-26-01608, June 1, 2026: deemed refusal complaint against the Ministry of Finance substantiated.
- BC Assessment fee estimates and my fee waiver requests and appeals on 23 freedom of information requests, and the $30 paid on file 2025-34, the Leger survey.
- Ministry of Finance, Internal Audit and Advisory Services, Review of BC Assessment Authority, September 2016.
- My request for guidance before filing a complaint, sent to the Office of the Ombudsperson, October 20, 2026.
- Andy Ross, video "how I was treated," https://youtu.be/OPDa1eF-T1M; 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.
- Saanich News, Bailey Seymour, "Sidney assessment appeal raises concerns around BC Assessment process," July 21, 2026; also published by the Peninsula News Review and Victoria News. Read the article
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, pages 621 to 627 (May 10, 2023), 903 to 906 (May 18, 2023) and 134 to 135 (June 12, 2023).
- 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, 2025/26 to 2027/28 Service Plan, March 2025, including the mandate letter from the Minister of Finance.
My Record: January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2026
$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
$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
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.
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
91%
of written Appeal Board decisions, made by an independent adjudicator, lowered the value
30 of the 33 that went that far
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
32
news stories about the appeals I helped with
Run more than 400 times in 68 news outlets across BC
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.
Are You Overassessed?
When BC Assessment gets your home's value wrong, I prove what it is actually worth using real sales of similar homes, so you don't pay more property tax than your fair share.
Jason Anson
I am not a lawyer or an appraiser, and nothing on this site should be considered legal or tax advice. When I help you, you are still the appellant and you file your own appeal. Every result depends on the evidence for that property, and the decision belongs to the Property Assessment Review Panel or the Property Assessment Appeal Board, not to me. My past results do not predict yours, and I cannot guarantee any outcome.
Helping homeowners with property assessment appeals is not a licensed activity in the province of British Columbia. It is not regulated by the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) or the Real Estate Services Act, and it is not considered a real estate service.
I am also a licensed real estate agent with eXp Realty. That work gives me my experience in valuation and market movement, which is the evidence of market value the Review Panel and the Appeal Board weigh. This site and my appeal work are completely separate from eXp Realty. They are not affiliated with, endorsed by or provided through my brokerage, and the views here are my own, not eXp Realty's.
What I write about BC Assessment, the Property Assessment Review Panel, the Property Assessment Appeal Board, the Minister and Ministry of Finance, and the other public offices on this site is my own opinion, and I consider it fair comment on a matter of public interest. My opinions are my honest views, marked as my view, and based on facts anyone can check: Appeal Board decisions, public records and records released under freedom of information. Quotes from documents and news stories are the words of the people quoted. If anything here is inaccurate, let me know and I will correct it.