Case information

Municipal law — Taxation — Property assessments — Three-year roll — Scope of principle of immutability of property assessment roll in municipal taxation — Interpretation of s. 174.3 ARMT — Act respecting municipal taxation, CQLR, c. F-2.1, ss. 32, 174, 174.3.

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The Quebec Superior Court allowed the applicant’s amended application for judicial review to declare unlawful and absolutely null 40 certificates of alteration to the three-year roll for 2019-2020-2021 of Ville de Blainville (“City”), retroactive to January 1, 2019. The certificates of alteration concerned the property assessments of 40 divided properties belonging to the applicant, being part of a condominium project. The Quebec Superior Court also allowed the City’s application for forced impleading of the respondents, a firm of chartered appraisers and its representative, who acted as the City’s appraiser during the relevant period, so that the dispute could be fully resolved.

The respondents appealed. The appeal essentially involved determining whether, in the circumstances, the respondents could issue certificates of alteration to the three-year roll for 2019-2020-2021 by invoking s. 174(7) of the Act respecting municipal taxation, CQLR, c. F-2.1, and the realization of a condition pursuant to s. 32. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and declared that the certificates of alteration in issue had been lawfully issued. Section 174.3 ARMT is clear: an appraiser has an obligation to enter a building on the roll when they find that the conditions set out in s. 174(7) ARMT are met. This interpretation does not violate the principle of immutability of the roll, because it takes into account an exception set out in the ARMT.