Under the Property Transfer Tax Act, RSBC 1996, c 378,
(the "Act"), property transfer tax ("PTT")
would, generally speaking, be imposed on a lease with a term of 30
years or more, or a lease in conjunction with lease modification
agreements that would result in a cumulative term of 30 years or
more, would be subject to PTT under the Act. In the recent decision
of M&N Hewitt Enterprises Ltd. v. British Columbia,
2021 BCSC 93 ("M&N Hewitt Enterprises"), the
British Columbia Supreme Court addressed the question of when PTT
would be imposed on a lease.
More specifically, M&N Hewitt Enterprises addresses
a situation where two consecutive leases on the same property are
granted by a lessor to a lessee. In such a case, would the
respective terms of each lease be added together to reach or
exceeded 30 years, rendering the leases subject to taxation?
