Property Taxes for my house went up from 3200 to 4500 this year

Property taxes (at least in Ontario) are based the value of your property as assessed by MPAC. There is a mechanism for appealing an assessment but I've never gone down that road.

I find it really hard to believe your actual property tax increased 40% year-over-year. Any increase in assessed value is phased in over several years so the tax hit isn't all at once.

Unless your property has been woefully undervalued all this time...

MoreDealsPlease wrote: ↑ Hey,

The property taxes for my house went up from $3200 to $4500 this year. This is just over 40% increase.
Is there anything I can do about this? (GTA)

What is this usually based on? I'm not only concerned about paying more each year but also resale of the house will be affected.

Re: bolded text. What do you mean? Surely an increase in the value of your home is a good thing if you plan to sell.

OttawaGardener wrote: ↑ Re: bolded text. What do you mean? Surely an increase in the value of your home is a good thing if you plan to sell.

I mean that when people buy houses they look at the property tax amount. 3 of my neighbour's taxes for 2016 with similar size lots are 3,302.27, 3,171.55 and 3,130.00 so my property doesn't compare well.
Also, not sure if it matters but we are all on top of the subway line, which probably lowers the value of the houses.

mrweather wrote: ↑ Property taxes (at least in Ontario) are based the value of your property as assessed by MPAC. There is a mechanism for appealing an assessment but I've never gone down that road.

I find it really hard to believe your actual property tax increased 40% year-over-year. Any increase in assessed value is phased in over several years so the tax hit isn't all at once.

Unless your property has been woefully undervalued all this time...

The change from paying 3200 to 4500 happened from 2015 to 2016. On top of that they are phasing another 40% increase over the next 4 years, so I will be paying ~6300 then. It's a 1500 sq feet property on top of the subway line.

The current (2016) amount of 4500 is based on only 657K property value which is bellow the real value of the property, however I can see (in the MLS records) 2016 property taxes for other houses similar to mine on the same street (some are even better) and they are around ~3100.

How long have you owned this property?

jrees wrote: ↑ How long have you owned this property?

Just over 2 years.

Maybe the assessment caught up with what you paid for the property?

Did you pull permits for any renovations recently ? If not and your house is the same as it's been over the past two years and the same as your neighbors apply for reconsideration with MPaC.

MoreDealsPlease wrote: ↑ The change from paying 3200 to 4500 happened from 2015 to 2016. On top of that they are phasing another 40% increase over the next 4 years, so I will be paying ~6300 then. It's a 1500 sq feet property on top of the subway line.

The current (2016) amount of 4500 is based on only 657K property value which is bellow the real value of the property, however I can see (in the MLS records) 2016 property taxes for other houses similar to mine on the same street (some are even better) and they are around ~3100.

Possibly you are paying for the lot value, due to subway-proximity, rather then house itself... but that still doesn't explain your neighbors' differential, unless theirs are about to catch up to yours.

MoreDealsPlease wrote: ↑ I mean that when people buy houses they look at the property tax amount. 3 of my neighbour's taxes for 2016 with similar size lots are 3,302.27, 3,171.55 and 3,130.00 so my property doesn't compare well.
Also, not sure if it matters but we are all on top of the subway line, which probably lowers the value of the houses.

Being close to the subway line massively increases the property value, unless it's shaking your house to pieces. My friend had a place over subway line and it was way over valued for what it was. I also used to live in a condo over a subway line and it was also valued highly.

This should not be a surprise to anyone who bought a house after the last tax assessment date and you'll not be alone with this surprise bill because all homeowners will be receiving their 2017 interim tax bill based on the Jan. 1, 2016 assessment and, the last assessment date was 4 years ago so - that's 4 years of property value increases the annual tax did not adequately account for.

The annual tax amounts are not adjusted for change in property values unless there has been a substantial renovation the city/town knows about hence, buyer beware.

google "mill rate"

vinaymal wrote: ↑ Did you pull permits for any renovations recently ? If not and your house is the same as it's been over the past two years and the same as your neighbors apply for reconsideration with MPaC.

I didn't but my neighbours added a big extension and renovated their entire house this year, we share a mutual driveway. Not sure if their permits could have made it change for me as well.

I live in Windsor. My home is valued at around $200k, and my taxes are $3,500-ish. Must be nice to have such low taxes; you'd be paying somewhere around $10k here.

Look at the assessed value of those other homes in the area. You can appeal your assessment, and use their property values as a basis for appeal.

C

ChubChub wrote: ↑ I live in Windsor. My home is valued at around $200k, and my taxes are $3,500-ish. Must be nice to have such low taxes; you'd be paying somewhere around $10k here.

Taxes are related to population density. You probably have at least 3x more land than this guy and a much bigger house. Must be nice.

You were undervalued during the last assessment. It has now caught up. Your house is currently valued around 830K or so. Previously, it was probably 4xxK (probably almost a 100% increase). My house, which increased about 60% (far less than yours) had the taxes go up to around 4000 from about 3600.

So the fact that your house went up at a much larger % means you will bear the larger tax burden.

Appeal the assessment. But you should have received an MPAC assessment notice long before being walloped with these taxes. That would have likely been a better time to start this process.

In any event, if you're sure the comparables were taxed at such a significantly lower rate I would contact MPAC and the city. I have successfully appealed both home and commercial land values with MPAC.

ChubChub wrote: ↑ I live in Windsor. My home is valued at around $200k, and my taxes are $3,500-ish. Must be nice to have such low taxes; you'd be paying somewhere around $10k here.

I don't think that's how property taxes are calculated. If all the properties around you were $1, the city would still need to collect the "$3500'ish" amount from you. If on the other hand, your property was disproportionally valued higher than everyone else, then you property tax would be reflected in that.

Correct me if I'm wrong.