39 Forfeiture For Unpaid Taxes

• 39 (1) In this section and in section 40, “notice” means notice given under and in accordance with this section or the regulations.
• (2) Despite any other action for the recovery of taxes under this Act, if any taxes for a calendar year remain unpaid until the end of November of the second year after that calendar year, the property in respect of which the taxes remain unpaid is, subject to subsections (3) and (4), absolutely forfeited to and vested in the government clear of all charges other than those set out in section 276(2) of the Land Title Act.
• (3) Property does not forfeit under subsection (2) until the Surveyor of Taxes gives notice to the owner of the property and to each registered charge holder who may be affected and, for the purposes of that subsection, if notice has been given, the date on which property forfeits is, for nonpayment of taxes for a calendar year, the later of

• (a) December 1 of the second year after that calendar year, and
• (b) the 40th day after the date on which the notice was given.

• (4) If any taxes for a calendar year remain unpaid on December 1 of the first year after that calendar year, the payment of those taxes does not prevent forfeiture unless the payment

• (a) includes all taxes then due and payable, costs and fees, and
• (b) is made before forfeiture occurs under this section.

• (5) Properties forfeited under this section must be administered by the minister responsible for the administration of the Land Act or another minister designated by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under this subsection for all or particular properties.
• (6) The notice must state

• (a) that the property is subject to forfeiture under this section,
• (b) the amount of all taxes, costs and fees that are due and payable to the date of the notice,
• (c) the date on which the property forfeits,
• (d) the right to prevent forfeiture by payment under this section, and
• (e) that on forfeiture under this section, the property will vest in the government clear of all charges other than those set out in section 276(2) of the Land Title Act.

• (7) The notice must be given by

• (a) mailing it to the person entitled to it at that person’s last known address or to the address of that person that is specified in the records of the land title office, or
• (b) publishing it in the Gazette and in at least one newspaper of general circulation in British Columbia and one newspaper of general circulation in or nearest the area in which the property is located.

• (8) This section does not apply in relation to the treaty lands of a treaty first nation if

• (a) the treaty first nation enacts a law in accordance with its final agreement restricting alienation of those treaty lands, and
• (b) the vesting of those treaty lands in the government is inconsistent with that law.

1979-400-38; 1982-28-1, proclaimed effective August 20, 1982; 1983-20-52, effective December 1, 1983 (B.C. Reg. 453/83); 1987-31-2 to 5; 1993-55-27; 2007-36-175, effective April 3, 2009 (B.C. Reg. 55/2009); B.C. Reg. 5/2010, s. 2; 2021-3-31, effective March 25, 2021.