Agricultural Law NetLetter - Monday, September 7, 2015 - Issue 331

HIGHLIGHTS

A Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court has overturned the decision of a Property Assessment Appeal Board which concluded that land which had been classified as a "farm" should be reclassified and taxed as "residential" property. The Court reviews the complex provisions of British Columbia's "Classification of Land as a Farm Regulation", that among other things, requires farmers to submit applications to tax assessors which include projected farm income, in order to have their land classified as farm land. The Court concludes that there is nothing in the Farm Regulation which entitles assessors to "declassify" farm land if revenue projections are not met, and that a Property Assessment Appeal Board had erred in relying on previous Court decisions to this effect as the previous decisions relied upon a provision in the Regulation which had been repealed. (Kelt v. British Columbia (Assessor of Area No. 4 -- Central Vancouver Island), CALN/2015-020, [20