The Research is the evidence behind everything I say about BC property taxes, on this site, in my book and on my podcast, and anyone can check it.
What does the research show about BC Assessment?
It shows that something is wrong, and that no one wants to deal with it. In my Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026, I checked every single family home sold on Vancouver Island in 2025, 7,079 of them, against its 2026 BC Assessment value. BC Assessment's value matched the sale price exactly on only 63.1 4,211 homes were assessed below what they sold for and 2,805 above, so some owners pay more than their fair share of property tax and some pay less.
The rest of the research shows why. BC Assessment's own records, released under freedom of information, show how it watched the homeowners who appealed. Recordings show what happened in the hearing rooms. A whistleblower inside BC Assessment and a retired BC Assessment appraiser each explain how the numbers miss. All of it is here, free, so you can read it and listen to it yourself. The news coverage is collected on News Features, and I have also created a section for journalists, so reporters covering BC property taxes can find the key documents, dates and figures in one place and check them for themselves before they write.
In my view, between 2023 and 2026, BC property taxes were shaped by a small group that worked closely together: BC Assessment, the Ministry of Finance office that runs the Review Panel, and, by Derek Holloway's account, the agents who appeal for large commercial owners. To be clear, I saw no evidence that the Appeal Board worked with the others the way BC Assessment, the Review Panel and the Ministry of Finance worked with each other.
63
of 7,079 single family home sales where BC Assessment's value matched the sale price
2,805
single family homes assessed above what they sold for. Those owners pay more than their share
4,211
single family homes assessed below what they sold for, 59%. Those owners have no reason to appeal
30,268
properties appealed in 2023. BC Assessment does not say how many were single family homes
0
records that would show how often homeowners win, according to the office that runs the Review Panel
Why does this happen?
A system built to hit an average, an appeal system few homeowners use, and homeowners carrying the cost
1
The computer system aims for the average, not your home
The BC Assessment whistleblower described how values are set: the software is used to bring the whole roll close to a 97% target, and staff are told to look closely only at the sales that miss it by a wide margin.2 Homes in between are not looked at one by one. In my view, when BC Assessment says the system is fair and the process is working, what it means is that some values will be wrong, and the appeal system is there if a homeowner knows how to catch them.
2
Few homeowners use the appeal system
BC Assessment says 30,268 properties were appealed in 2023, but it does not say how many of those were homes and how many were commercial property.3 The Appeal Board received 4,328 new appeals that year, and it says 48% were commercial and industrial property and 49% residential, a class that also covers condos, apartment buildings and development land.4 When I asked BC Assessment under freedom of information how many single family homes appealed, province wide, it said 844 complaints in 2023 and 602 in 2024.5 In my view, homeowners are a small part of who appeals, and no one publishes how small.
3
Homeowners carry the cost
Derek Holloway, a retired BC Assessment senior appraiser, says large commercial and industrial properties are under assessed, and that the agents who appeal for them run the appeal system to their clients' benefit, which shifts the tax burden onto homeowners.6 My Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026 looked at homes, not commercial property, and it found 4,211 of 7,079 homes, 59%, assessed below what they sold for.1 An owner who is under assessed has no reason to complain, so the appeal numbers only show part of the picture. Your tax rate is set to raise what your community needs, so every dollar of value missing from one property is paid by everyone else.
4
Why I built these tools
When my neighbours and I started in 2023, I thought the group would settle for approximately 10% off within a month. Instead, BC Assessment brought King's Counsel, took the appeals to written submissions and full adjudication, and did it again in later years. If I could lead a group of homeowners with no experience and win reduction after reduction, year after year, while every office said it was not theirs to fix, then in my view, homeowners need an independent example of how the system really works and the tools to protect themselves. That is what this site is.
Inside the research
6 kinds of evidence anyone can check
The Freedom of Information Requests
23 requests to BC Assessment, plus the Ministry of Finance. BC Assessment's fee estimates came to $11,047.06. I fought them through a long series of appeals and paid only $30, on the Leger survey, and every answer in it came back blacked out.7 You can read every release here for free.
See the FOI RequestsThe Recordings
The hearings, conferences and inspections behind the appeals. I recorded BC Assessment's home inspections when its staff came to Youbou in June 2023. The homeowner at the heart of this story recorded every one of his hearings and gave the recordings to me before he passed away in 2025. His appeals are all settled. Listen and judge for yourself.
Hear the RecordingsThe Audits by Region and Jurisdiction
Every home sale on Vancouver Island, checked community by community, from Victoria to Port Hardy. Find your own area and see how close BC Assessment came.1
See the AuditsThe BC Assessment Whistleblower Files
In May 2023, while BC Assessment was switching to a new computer system, a person inside it told me how values are set. Here, what was said then is checked against what the record shows now.2
Read the Whistleblower FilesOne System, Two Roads
There is one Assessment Act, but 2 very different roads through it. Large commercial owners travel with professional appeal agents who know every turn. Homeowners travel alone, and most drop out before the Appeal Board. The court records and reporting on BC Assessment's Supreme Court lawsuit are collected here, so you can read the filings for yourself.
Follow the LawsuitThe Evidence
Every document behind this site in one place, numbered and linked, from government reviews to Appeal Board reports and freedom of information releases.
See the Evidence10 years apart
The last government review said BC Assessment was highly accurate. Its accuracy figures came from BC Assessment itself.
In September 2016, the Ministry of Finance's own Internal Audit and Advisory Services found "a high degree of accuracy when compared to actual sales overall." The review lists how it was done on page 13: interviews, a review of laws and policies, comparisons with other provinces, financial reports, and operations and computer systems. Its accuracy chart, on page 21, is labelled "Source: BCAA", meaning BC Assessment's own figures.8 It is the last review of how BC Assessment works that I have found.
Since then, new appeals to the Appeal Board have gone from 2,197 in 2016 to 5,019 in 2025, more than double.4 My Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026 checks all 7,079 home sales on Vancouver Island, one by one. BC Assessment's value matched the sale price on only 63 of them, less than 1%. In my view, that means more than 99% of the homes that sold were not assessed at what they sold for.
What the homeowners said
A homeowner on the moment people started listening.
Andy Ross was one of the Youbou waterfront homeowners. When he told people what he was up against, one detail made them stop: BC Assessment had brought in King's Counsel. Across 4 appeals on his home and his lot, from 2023 to 2025, his assessments came down $815,500.9
"People all of a sudden stand up and listen like this the minute I say, 'Well, they actually brought in King's Counsel.'"
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
A homeowner outside the Youbou group asked for the same thing the research asks for.
Cowichan Valley Citizen, August 20, 2024
Malahat homeowner in ongoing fight over property assessments
"I urge politicians and community leaders to address this issue urgently." ... "The fairness and integrity of our property-assessment system depend on it."
Gord Getejanc, a Malahat homeowner, quoted in the Cowichan Valley Citizen, August 20, 2024.10
The Ministry of Finance kept a copy of the article in its files. 2 years later, my Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026 put the whole Island's numbers in front of those same politicians and community leaders.
Every story about these appeals, and everywhere it ran, is on News Features.
What the Ministry of Finance said
BC Assessment paid for both levels of appeal. The Ministry said that kept them independent.
"The Assessment Authority Act statutorily requires BCA to fund both the operations and processes of PARP and the Property Assessment Appeal Board."
A reply prepared for the Office of the Minister of Finance, answering my questions on how independent the Review Panel is from BC Assessment. PARP is the Review Panel and BCA is BC Assessment. Released to me under freedom of information.11
Who did what, and who paid
BC Assessment
set the value on every home
Review Panel
the first level of appeal, run by the Ministry of Finance, paid for by BC Assessment
Appeal Board
the second level, an independent tribunal, also paid for by BC Assessment
0
records at the Review Panel office on how often homeowners win12
The same reply said BC Assessment had no say in the Review Panel's operational decisions, and that this ensured the independence of the process. In my view, a homeowner should know who pays for the hearing room before walking into it.
When I later asked the Review Panel office how often homeowners win, it told me it had no records that would show it.12 More on The Freedom of Information Requests.
What this means for you: no office kept count of how often homeowners win. That is why I had to build the research myself.
What BC Assessment said
After one of my videos, BC Assessment decided to watch, not answer.
"I just spoke with Jason Grant and Communications is going to not reach out but will continue to monitor the situation."
A BC Assessment staff member, in an email to the Vancouver Island Assessor and other BC Assessment staff, "Youtube video about BCA and the PAAB Process," November 14, 2023. Released to me under freedom of information.13
In November 2023, I posted a video about BC Assessment and the Appeal Board process. Inside BC Assessment, it went to the Assessor, Communications and government relations staff. The decision was to monitor it.
What this means for you: BC Assessment paid attention to homeowners who spoke up and kept a record. Everything on this site is that record, and anyone can read it.
What the BC Assessment whistleblower said
The whistleblower said hitting the average was the easy part.
"One of the measures of our goal is... the 97% is easy to get to. It's the ones that lie above and below. They become the problem."
The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded telephone call, May 2023.14
The average, and the homes around it
My Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026 counted the ones above and below. Almost every home that sold was one of them. The rest of what he said is on The BC Assessment Whistleblower Files.
Common questions
About the research
How does BC Assessment determine my value?
BC Assessment values every property in the province at once, using mass appraisal. It groups similar homes, looks at what comparable homes sold for around July 1 of the year before, and applies that to each home based on what it has on file, such as size, age, condition, location, view and waterfront. Your value is only as good as that data and those sales, which is why the property record card matters and why the misses in my Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026 matter.
How can I check if my BC Assessment is accurate?
Compare your assessed value with what similar homes near you actually sold for close to July 1 of the year before, because that is the date your value is set. BC Assessment's website lets you look up your own value and your neighbours' by address for free. Then get your property record card and check what BC Assessment has on file for your home, such as the size, age and condition. In the appeals I have worked on, data errors and the wrong sales are the most common reasons a value misses.
What is an assessment to sales ratio?
It is the assessed value divided by the sale price. A home that sold for $1,000,000 and was assessed at $950,000 has a ratio of 95%. BC Assessment and the international standards it cites look at the median ratio across many sales, which can look accurate even when many individual homes are well off. That is why my Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026 also counts how many homes matched their sale price exactly.1
How many BC Assessment appeals are there each year?
BC Assessment says 19,925 properties were appealed in 2025, less than 1%.15 The Appeal Board received 5,019 new appeals that year, more than double the 2,197 it received in 2016, and a large share of its work is commercial property.4 When I asked BC Assessment for the province wide numbers for single family homes, it said there were 844 complaints in 2023 and 602 in 2024. The same letter does not make clear whether those were at the Review Panel or the Appeal Board.5 The Review Panel office told me it has no records of how often homeowners win.12 In my view, that is the question at the centre of the research: how many homeowners actually appeal, and how many win, and no one publishes the answer.
What is the BC Assessment roll?
The assessment roll is BC Assessment's list of every property in British Columbia and its assessed value, set as of July 1 of the year before. Each year BC Assessment gives the roll to your local government, and the tax rate is applied to it to work out your property tax bill. When I say the roll, I mean all of those values together, and when one value on it is wrong, that owner pays the wrong share of tax.
Who is really here to help
The research shows the whole roll. Your home still needs checking.
The research shows what goes wrong across thousands of homes, but no office will check your own assessment for you. If your value looks wrong, it is up to you to find the error and prove it. I built my own tools to do that, backed by real sales and the decisions on my BC Assessment Appeal Record, where every homeowner I personally helped who saw their appeal through won a reduction. 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 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 Kits
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 KitsStraight 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
The research covers 2023 to 2026, under the previous government. It is here so the new government can start from the evidence.
What a new government could do: Publish the data behind the roll's accuracy home by home, not only the median.
The research checked 7,079 homes. Has anyone checked yours?
Start with your address and see how your BC Assessment compares to what homes like yours actually sold for.
Check My PropertySources
- 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, with the public workbooks for each region.
- The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded telephone call, May 2023; BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, pages 227 to 228 (May 11, 2023).
- BC Assessment, property owners agree with their 2023 assessments, news release, April 14, 2023.
- Property Assessment Appeal Board, annual reports, 2016, 2023 and 2025.
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2024-29, letter of October 7, 2024: single family complaint counts for 2023 and 2024, province wide.
- Cowichan Valley Citizen, August 8, 2024, "Retired appraiser waging fight against 'underassessed' commercial, industrial properties," quoting Derek Holloway.
- 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, pages 13, 14 and 21.
- Andy Ross, video "King's Counsel," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxE3XwIQ0yo; 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.
- Cowichan Valley Citizen, "Malahat homeowner in ongoing fight over property assessments," August 20, 2024; a copy is held in Ministry of Finance FOI file FIN-2025-52395, page 960.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 286 to 288: reply prepared for the Office of the Minister of Finance to my questions on the independence of the Property Assessment Review Panel, reference 513725.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 943 to 944: email from the Review Panel Administrator to me, July 8, 2024.
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, pages 434 to 436: email from BC Assessment Communications, November 14, 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, More than 99% of Property Owners Agree with their 2025 Assessments, news release, April 16, 2025.
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.