Richmond council will decide Wednesday whether to sell properties that are delinquent on their taxes.
In late July, there were 331 delinquent accounts – those that were due in 2018 but were still not paid off – totalling almost $1.5 million.
Since then, however, 137 property owners have paid off their delinquent taxes and their properties have been removed from the potential sale.
Money owing is classified as current (2020), in arrears (2019) and delinquent (2018) taxes - 11 property owners, whose taxes total $270,000, only pay off their delinquent portion every year, according to the staff report.
The city has contacted the financial institutions for those properties with mortgages – generally, financial institutions will encourage clients to pay their taxes or refinance their mortgage at a higher rate.
Remaining are 53 properties without mortgages, whose delinquent taxes total $320,000. Of these, nine have COVID or financial challenges, according to the report; five are owned by seniors, 16 are for sale and, for 11 properties, the city doesn’t have contact information – the city is trying to find out if the mailing address is wrong or if the owner is out of the country.
Some owners are in other countries because of the pandemic and can’t get back to deal with their finances. According to the city, it can be logistically challenging for some people to access funds while abroad in order to pay their taxes.
Thirteen properties are on Crown land – the airport and port – and normally these agencies help to resolve the property tax issue.
If the tax sale is held, council would have to pass a bylaw to make the Minoru Centre for Active Living into a temporary council meeting place as council chambers at city hall, under current physical distancing rules, are too small to hold the tax sale.
Bidders of properties have to pay $175 to participate and have a certified cheque or bank draft for the maximum amount of the property before the tax sale.
If a sale goes through, the original property owner has a year to redeem it by paying the delinquent taxes and interest on the purchase price.
According to Clay Adams, city spokesperson, it is extremely rare that properties actually change hands in tax sales.
A ministerial order from the province allows municipalities to delay the annual tax sale to September 2021 because of the pandemic, and many cities in the Lower Mainland have deferred their tax sales this year.
