BC REALTLORS Lobby to Protect Property Rights
This is straight from a British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) email I received today. I thought you'd be interested in some of the things the real estate industry does that don't make the news very often.
Property rights protected
This week, BCREA and several other provincial organizations successfully lobbied the provincial government to remove legislation that would have negatively impacted private property rights across British Columbia.
The Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No.2), 2008 (Bill 43) was introduced in the legislature on April 30. Section 32 of the legislation, which would have amended the Law and Equity Act , raised concerns for BCREA and others. According to the news release issued by the Ministry of the Attorney General when the bill was introduced, the intent of the legislation was to clearly define compensation eligibility when property interests on Crown land are expropriated by or on behalf of government. The amendments were meant only to affect Crown land, not private land, and provide greater certainty for holders of Crown property interests.
However, the language in section 32 didn’t articulate the intent of the legislation as it related to unexpected and unwarranted claims for compensation in unique circumstances involving Crown land. Without that qualification, if the bill had received Royal Assent, it would have placed private property owners, businesses and private interests in Crown land at serious risk and severely impacted BC’s economy, reputation and citizens’ quality of life.
In the legislature on Thursday, May 15, Minister of Agriculture and Lands Pat Bell responded to concerns raised by the business community. His motion to have section 32 removed from the bill was passed.
Under its Quality of Life approach, BCREA believes protection of private property owners’ rights should be entrenched as a guiding principle in provincial policy and legislation. The Association believes compensation should be paid to owners in the amount of their loss, and through a clear and transparent process, when their land is expropriated for public benefit.
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Matthew Collinge: Vancouver REALTOR®
