A Youbou waterfront property owner has written to Premier David Eby after he has had to repeatedly appeal the assessments of his property by BC Assessment over several years.
John Duggan owns a 1960s-era recreational cabin that has no power and running water on approximately 0.72 acres on a remote logging road, and he was frustrated when he saw BCA has assessed the property at $1,592,600 in 2026, which is 45 per cent above what it was assessed at last year.
He is growing increasingly irritated over the fact that he will have to appeal the assessment of his property for the third time in recent years, after successfully winning his appeals the previous two times, including last year.
In 2024, BCA initially assessed the property at $1,588,700, which was a 10 per cent increase from the previous year and a whopping 107 per cent rise over three years, despite the small property lacking power and running water.
Duggan successfully appealed the assessment and an appeals board reduced it to $1.2 million, and he successfully appealed the assessment again in 2025, even after its significant reduction the year before, and it was reduced to $1.1 million.
“But it has now been re-inflated [to $1,592,600] for 2026, requiring the same process to be undertaken for a third time,” Duggan said in his letter to the premier.
“This is an increase of approximately 45 per cent, while the average increase within the jurisdiction was approximately two per cent. In both prior years, independent appeal bodies confirmed that the assessments were incorrect, resulting in property tax refunds only after months of preparation, hearings, and delay. I can no longer understand these outcomes as isolated errors or a self-correcting process.”
Duggan said that, during the course of his appeals, he discovered that his is not an isolated or individual situation, and numerous other property owners in the area have been facing the same issues.
He said there is no independent complaint or review mechanism currently in place when confirmed assessment errors reappear year after year.
Duggan said to Eby that he is not writing him to seek his intervention in his assessment, but to bring to his attention a pattern that can’t be resolved at the individual homeowner level when prior tribunal decisions do not hold in subsequent years, and when the only available escalation pathway leads back to the originating authority.
He said he doesn’t object to paying his fair share of taxes, but he can’t understand why he must repeatedly prove the same facts over again, through the same statutory process and against the same assessment record, only to have the issue recur year after year.
“The time, cost, and complexity of this process place a significant burden on ordinary citizens, particularly retirees, and discourage many from pursuing corrections at all,” Duggan said.
“I offer this account in good faith and respectfully ask that you consider whether the current system adequately preserves the integrity of tribunal decisions and the fairness of annual reassessments.”
In a podcast on the issue, Duggan said BCA needs to get their house in order and be realistic.
“If property owners get an assessment and don’t agree with it, they shouldn’t be quiet and be like a lamb and get knocked over,” he said.
“You need to step up if it’s wrong.”
Jason Anson, a real estate agent and appeal advocate who helped Duggan obtain assessment reductions in previous years, said most people assume that if an independent tribunal corrects an assessment, the correction sticks.
“What John’s case shows is that it often does not,” he said.
“I have seen this pattern repeatedly across B.C. when homeowners are required to re-prove the same facts year after year, despite confirmed corrections. The premier is in the best position to ask why that keeps happening.”
A statement from BCA said it can’t discuss individual appeals.
“We welcome any property owner with any questions or concerns about their property assessment to connect with us,” the BCA said.
“We are here to help. Give us a call us at 1-866-valueBC or visit bcassessment.ca. Whether online or over the phone, we are pleased to help answer all questions that homeowners may have and to address their concerns.”