Since the year 2000 The Castle has been my favourite movie. It's hilarious and deals with all the things an appraiser should be passionate about -- property rights, market values, motivation, external/functional obsolescence, highest and best use, expropriation, eminent domain and so on.
The movie is about a man and his family that fight the Australian government when they attempt to expropriate his land to expand an airport runway. The main character (dad in the clip) takes his case all the way to the Superior court. I won't ruin it for you as it's worth watching.
Why am I talking about a 27 year old movie on an appraisal site?
Property rights and Expropriation
What is rarely fully understood by homeowners is that when they own property they actually own the title to a bundle of rights associated with that property. The bundle of rights strictly outline how much enjoyment they can get out of it.
Abacus Appraisals is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This municipality appears to have a less than perfect track record when it comes to honouring property rights. A recent example of this is Annapolis Group Inc. v. Halifax Regional Municipality (2022) https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/cb/2022/39594-eng.aspx. In this case the Supreme Court of Canada decided Annapolis’s claim of constructive taking may proceed to trial. HRM was supposedly blocking development of land in order to use it as a park without compensating the land owner.
Another infamous occurrence is that of Aftricville in the 1960's. If you are able, I would take an afternoon and go down to the church at 5795 Africville Rd, Halifax, NS B3K 2R9 and talk to the curator. The tactics used by Halifax to drive the occupants away, destroy their community and obtain land and property rights from Africville were nothing but horrendous. https://humanrights.ca/story/story-africville
Another example is when the government decides to implement policies and bylaws that affect property rights and market value without any compensation. This usually goes fairly unnoticed however it can have significant repercussions on the market value of property. In 2023 Coun. Shawn Cleary (HRM) admitted to the press that a change in the HRM bylaws will create losers -- "there will be winners and there will be losers," he stated. The loser property owners, as HRM referred to them, lost utility (enjoyment) of their property without any semblance of compensation or fairness to the property owner. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/new-halifax-short-term-rental-regulations-to-start-in-september-1.6756300
The government may decide to change the zoning bylaws or even expropriate your land if they need it for public use. Expropriation through eminent domain is an extraordinary power that involves significant responsibilities and legal requirements to ensure justice and fairness for property owners which at times is not adhered to.
The long and short of it is that you should be made whole after any expropriation in terms of market value of your property. If you own a residential property and need to know the market value while going through an expropriation don't hesitate to contact us. If you find that HRM is proceeding with a constructive taking or de facto expropriation without compensation, call your lawyer, and then call us.
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