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Expropriation Law Centre Forum

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Appraising the value of a remnant property with an uncertain future?

The New Fraser Crossing will take about an acre of our land and our home built on the only approved site on our three acre property. The native soil, I suspect, is too thin to support a sewage disposal system on the balance of the property although with changes in technology I am no longer entirely sure of this fact. Here’s the tricky part: because the partial taking contains the only currently approved building site, with it gone, the remainder of the property can no longer be resided upon. This causes a security problem for the isolated shop, makes a daily commute necessary to care for the animals that currently live on the property, and generally reduces its overall usefulness. Furthermore, there is no way to decisively know what change the increased noise and pollution of the new road will do to the land’s residential desirability. As if this wasn’t enough, local landowners have presented a petition to the Municipality to change the zoning from “bedroom” to “workplace” and a new neighborhood concept plan has been undertaken. Does anyone have an idea as to how an appraiser might evaluate all this “change of land use” uncertainty?

Re: Appraising the value of a remnant property with an uncertain future?

Appraisers will compare the remaining land to other land that has recently sold that exhibits the same characteristics you have mentioned. Adjustments are made to the selling prices of the comparables to "adjust" for the subject's size, zoning, location amoungst a variety of other factors in relation to the sales.

Re: Re: Appraising the value of a remnant property with an uncertain future?

It appears that purchasing only a portion of this property would make it uninhabitable due to lack of septic field. Would the expropriating authority not purchase all of the property due to this? It seems to me there was a case where only part of the property was needed but because this portion contained the septic field and the remainder of the property would not support one that the whole property was purchased.

Re: Re: Re: Appraising the value of a remnant property with an uncertain future?

There's a new Offical Community Plan in the works which will quite likely rezone this high traffic area as workplace for development in 5-10 years. Although our remnant property is currently unsuitable for home building, it may well gain value as a place for a big box tilt-up retail outlet because of the very conditions that make it unsuitable for residential. .