Their release says "Nearly 99 percent of Property Owners Agree with their 2026 Assessments." Your assessment sets your property tax. Most owners never check it. FairValue compares it to homes near you and to your home's real facts, using assessment and sales data you can verify yourself. Free.
No credit card. Takes the address you already know.
BC Assessment's own annual report describes "over 99 percent of assessments accepted without appeal." Accepted is not the same as checked.
Source: BC Assessment 2024/25 Annual Service Plan Report
In the Youbou, BC flood-zone appeals, the last group of homeowners waited about 18 months and pooled over $10,000 for surveyors and appraisers.
Source: Victoria News, Feb 18 2025
A PARP complaint is due by January 31, or the next business day when it falls on a weekend. A PAAB appeal is due by April 30, and PAAB appeal fees are not refunded, even if you win.
Sources: Assessment Act (BC), PAAB "How to File a Property Assessment Appeal"
Three steps, on data you can verify.
Enter your address. The FairValue tool stores both assessment and sales data for your home and the homes near you, then reads it back as a plain comparison.
Enter your home's real details. FairValue scores how far BC Assessment's record and nearby values are from yours.
An Appeal Pack gives you a structured evidence file for your complaint. Paid, price on the pricing page.
Join other BC homeowners checking what their home is actually worth.
BC Assessment sets a value for your home every year. Your property tax bill follows from it. When it is too high, you pay more than your fair share of a bill that was already set, and the only way to say so is your own time, your own evidence, and sometimes your own money.
In Youbou, BC, twenty-five homeowners appealed after a 28% one-year jump on waterfront properties. Earlier neighbours won $11 million, then $4 million, in reductions. The last group waited about eighteen months and spent over $10,000 on evidence. The appeal board's own letter called the assessor's request for more time "disappointing."
Source: Victoria News. FairValue did not exist for those appeals and cannot promise those outcomes.
Citizens' Advocacy Service is building a suite of tools for the public to practice digital self-defense and push back against a lopsided system. The first tool is FairValue. It is free to use, it stores both assessment and sales data so you can check every number yourself, and no homeowner has to face this alone.
About half of assessment appeals completed in 2024 changed the assessed value.
95% of appeals are settled without ever having a hearing.
Source: Property Assessment Appeal Board 2024 statistics. Figures cover all appeal types, not only homes.
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