Condos would be wise to consider immediate filing of a 2013 Request for Reconsideration with MPAC for their superintendent's unit and any other common amenity service unit before the imminent April 1st filing deadline, in order to take advantage of the new $9 nominal assessment ruling.
The Assessment Review Board ruled last Friday that 40 participating supers' units should be assessed for taxation at nine dollars each. That means no municipal tax.
That precedent is important because it applies not only to supers' units, but extends also to other common amenities service units, such as parking, guest, mechanical, gatehouse, recreational and other units owned by the corporation providing amenities or services to its unit owners. The ARB based its primary decision upon analysis of the nature of service easement aspects which merge s. 12 of the Condominium Act with s. 9 of the Assessment Act to enable an exemption from the full current value concept which otherwise governs assessment of realty parcels.
The ARB concluded alternatively that the market value of the supers' units was minimal and already resided in the owners' residential, parking and locker units.
The ARB also concluded that it was inequitable to assess supers' units differently than guest units. Last year, Bob Gardiner had convinced MPAC to reduce the assessment of over 200 of GMA's condo clients' guest and visitor parking units to a nominal assessment of $9 each, based upon his unique Request for Reconsideration rationales.
Bob has persistently spear-headed this initiative since 2005. Much of the language of the 35 page decision is based on his written and oral argument explaining over 100 legal concepts to rationalize 6 grounds for appeal, supported by 14 legal precedent cases contained in his Legal Authorities binder, as well as 200 pages of documents in his Statement of Facts binder.
David Fleet, an assessment law expert, and Carol Dirks, a condo lawyer, also forcefully submitted key arguments in a teamwork approach. The team convinced the ARB to accept a "condo world" view of common amenity service unit assessment, instead of the assessment arguments so capably submitted by MPAC's lawyer, Don Mitchell.
It is possible MPAC may appeal the ARB's decision, but the deadline to file the 2013 Request for Reconsideration for your Corporation’s common amenity service units expires April 1, 2013. You should receive legal advice well before that deadline. You can file even if you have already paid the tax. A copy of GMA’s 2013 RfR enrollment form and further information can be obtained from Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP by emailing bob.gardiner@gmalaw.ca.
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Hats off to the Golden Horsehoe Chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute for another great conference, jam-packed with seminars, friendly exhibitors and the latest updates on the Condo Act Review process still underway.
While it is good to see that the Condo Act regulations are being fine-tuned from time to time, we remain hopeful that more substantial revision of the Act and regs is not far away.