Property Assessment

An assessment is the value assigned to all property including land and buildings by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. The assessed value of a property multiplied by the tax rate(s) determines the taxes each property owner pays. Commercial, industrial and multi-residential properties may have phase-ins called capping and claw backs mandated under the Municipal Act that affect the total taxes payable. Capping and claw back parameters can be found at the bottom of the Rates and Fees page.  The tax rate includes the taxes levied by school board(s), the Region of Halton and the City of Burlington. The assessment information is also used to determine school support.

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is responsible for property assessments based on standards established by the Ontario Minister of Finance. All Ontario municipalities are members of the Corporation, whose activities are legislated by the Assessment Act. Ontario is divided into 28 assessment regions. Each region is responsible for its own assessments. The assessors deal directly with taxpayers, municipalities and school boards.

Responsibilities include: determining the assessed value of every Ontario property; sending out Notices of Property Assessment; answering inquiries from the public; defending assessments before tribunals and courts and conducting an enumeration every four years to support municipal and school board elections. The creation of the MPAC responds to municipal government requests for greater control over the management of the assessment process which is a key element of their local property tax system.

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is responsible for assessing and classifying all properties in Ontario in accordance with the Assessment Act and regulations as set by the Province of Ontario.

For residential properties, MPAC uses sales to compare your property to similar properties that have sold in your area. This approach is called the Sales Comparison Approach which is used to establish the Current Value Assessment (CVA) of your property.

While there may be several hundred factors that are considered when assessing a property, the following five factors generally account for 85% of your home’s value:

1. Location
2. Lot dimensions
3. Living area
4. Age of the property adjusted for any renovations or additions
5. Quality of construction

AboutMyProperty is a secure, free, self-service application provided by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to property tax payers in Ontario. Through this service, you can access property assessment and site information such as lot size and recent sales information.

If you wish to direct your school taxes to another school board, please contact your school board who will communicate the information to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.

The Ontario Fair Assessment System established seven property classes and gave municipalities the flexibility to vary the tax rate for each class, subject to ranges of fairness established by Ontario regulation. These tax ranges ensure a fair level of taxation for each property class. The seven standard property classes are: residential, multi-residential (rental apartment buildings), commercial, industrial, pipe line, farmlands and managed forests.

All properties in Ontario are now being assessed for the taxation years 2017 to 2020 based MPAC's assessed value of your property as of Jan. 1, 2016.  Please see Property Assessment Update and COVID-19 for an update regarding the reassessment.

The provincial government has mandated that reassessments occur every four years. Government has also introduced the phasing in of assessment increases as part of the reassessment. Decreases in assessment will not be phased in and are effective in the first year.

Example: A $100,000 assessment increase will be phased in gradually in increments of $25,000 each year over four years as follows.

Property value increases from $500,000 to $600,000:

• As a general rule, if your percentage increase year over year is larger than the average municipal change, you may experience an increase due to the reassessment.
• If your percentage change is relatively close to the average, you may not experience an assessment related tax increase or decrease.
• If your percentage change is less than the average, you may experience an assessment related tax decrease. This will apply to all four years of the phase-in.  

Besides the valuation changes occurring from the reassessment program, changes in the municipality's budget requirements also affect tax rates.  The current reassessment cycle will be based on MPAC's assessed value of your property as of January 1, 2016 and used for the taxation years 2017 to 2020.  Please see Property Assessment Update and COVID-19 for an update regarding the reassessment.

When a reassessment is completed, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) will mail a Notice of Property Assessment to every property owner.

Under the Assessment Act and the Municipal Act, the City of Burlington must issue supplementary/omit tax bills when the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) has revalued a property because of new construction or improvements which result in an increase to the property's assessed value.

The legislation allows MPAC to assess new construction or improvements for the current year and two prior years, if applicable. Supplementary/omit tax bills are generated when the city receives the updated assessment values from MPAC. The supplementary/omit tax billings for all years will be mailed together with tax installments due in two consecutive months. Therefore, homeowners are encouraged to factor in these tax bills and set aside funds immediately following any major renovations to your property or the purchase of a newly built home. MPAC will send you a supplementary or omitted assessment notice indicating the new assessed value in advance of the City of Burlington issuing supplementary/omit tax bills.  More infomation about how and when MPAC assesses newly built homes can be found on MPAC's website.

In the case where you built or purchased a brand new home or condominium, any tax bills received prior to the supplementary/omit tax billing are usually smaller and represent land only. If you receive a supplementary/omit tax bill and you did not own the home during all or a portion of the time indicated on the supplementary/omit tax bill, the bill should be forwarded to your lawyer to arrange for payment.

If you disagree with MPAC's new assessed value, you can contact MPAC and ask them to reconsider the value through the assessment appeal process. MPAC will have indicated a deadline date for filing a Request for Reconsideration on your supplementary or omitted assessment notice.