Overview
Property taxes are typically one of the largest recurring operating expenses in a real estate portfolio, yet assessments are often treated as fixed and unquestionable.
In reality, an assessment is a legislated estimate of value at a specific historical date, and discrepancies with current market conditions are common.
In this webinar, François Huot, Property & Industry Expert at Leyton, breaks down how businesses can identify assessment errors, understand critical filing deadlines, and build strong evidence to support a property tax appeal.
From mass appraisal systems and pre-roll periods to energy efficiency incentives and a real case study, this session provides practical guidance to help property owners protect long-term asset value and strengthen their tax position year after year.
What You’ll Learn
- How to identify an over-assessed property : Understand the five review factors (value, income, property characteristics, legal constraints, tax treatment) and how to spot a gross or manifest error.
- How assessment timing works : Learn what a pre-roll period is, why acting before the roll is final matters, and how deadlines vary by province.
- How to weigh an appeal decision : Understand the factors that support an appeal versus those that require caution, including exposure risk.
- How energy efficiency ties into tax strategy : Discover how incentives like the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit (CTITC) can improve NOI and asset value.
- How to manage property tax across the asset lifecycle : Learn how to centralize notices, benchmark assessments, and build an evidence file before a dispute arises.
Who is this webinar for?
✔ Real Estate Owners & Investors
Owners of commercial, office, or multi-tenant properties managing single or multi-property portfolios in Canada
✔ Asset & Portfolio Managers
Professionals overseeing multi-property or multi-jurisdiction real estate holdings
✔ Finance & Tax Professionals
CFOs, Controllers, Finance Directors, and professionals responsible for operating expenses and tax reporting
✔ Property Management Companies
Teams responsible for tracking assessments, notices, and appeal deadlines across a portfolio
Q&A
Below you will find the answers to the questions raised during the webinar, prepared by our expert François Huot.
Please note that these answers are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice.
If you have questions related to your specific situation or that of your organization, we encourage you to contact us directly.
We own several industrial properties in Alberta and British Columbia. If we believe next year’s assessment may be too high, should we wait for the official notice, or can we address it during the pre-roll period?
Do not wait for the official notice if a pre-roll process is available. The best time to correct inaccurate property information or challenge preliminary valuation assumptions is before the assessment roll is finalized. Owners should assemble their authorizations, rent rolls, operating information, property changes, vacancy data and evidence of obsolescence in advance. If the issue is not resolved during pre-roll, the formal appeal may still be necessary, and informal discussions do not extend the statutory deadline.
One of our industrial buildings was designed for a former use and contains specialized improvements that no longer provide much value. How can functional obsolescence be reflected in the assessment, and what evidence would we need?
Functional obsolescence exists when a property’s design, configuration or specialized components provide less value to today’s market than their original cost would suggest. Examples include excess ceiling height, obsolete production areas, inadequate loading, surplus power capacity or improvements that would be expensive to repurpose. The strongest evidence includes building plans, photographs, utilization data, engineering reports, conversion costs, market rents and sales of comparable properties. The key is demonstrating that the limitation affects what a typical purchaser would pay, rather than simply reflecting an owner-specific operational decision.”
Most of our property taxes are recoverable from tenants under net leases. Does it still make sense for us as owners to review or appeal the assessment, and can lower property taxes ultimately affect the property’s value?”
Yes, although the benefit is not always a dollar-for-dollar increase in landlord NOI. Property taxes remain part of the tenant’s total occupancy cost, so an excessive assessment can affect leasing competitiveness, tenant retention and the rent the market can support. Owners may also have vacancies, recovery caps, exclusions or other leakage that leaves part of the tax burden unrecovered. Buyers and lenders also examine property taxes and reassessment risk during underwriting. The right approach is to quantify both the direct NOI benefit and the broader effect on the property’s competitiveness and value.