WHEREAS section 72 of the Community Charter grants municipal authority to impose remedial action requirements and section 17 of the Community Charter provides that if a property owner fails to take a required action, a municipality may take the required action and recover the costs incurred from the property owner, but there is no mechanism for proceedings against the officers and directors of any corporate owner of land failing to comply with a remedial action requirement; AND WHEREAS corporations with limited assets may ignore remedial action orders with impunity, thereby exposing municipalities to significant liability in cases where a municipality acquires abandoned, dilapidate andor environmentally suspect corporate properties by default at tax sale: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities request the Province to amend the Community Charter to permit local governments issuing remedial action requirements to direct said orders against the officers and directors of any corporate owner of land if the corporation fails to comply with a remedial action requirement.
MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY RURAL DEVELOPMENT When a remedial action requirement in relation to a structure is ignored by the property owner, the Community Charter offers remedies for municipalities seeking to address the situation. Under s. 17, the municipality can undertake the work at the owners expense and recover the costs as a debt. This can be achieved by collecting the costs as property taxes or, in some cases, selling the structure that was subject to the requirement. This procedure is the same regardless of whether the property is owned by individual and corporate owners. If such properties go to tax sale, there is the possibility that the municipality may acquire them by default. However, the chances of this outcome are likely diminished by the remedial work performed by the municipality, making such properties more attractive to potential tax sale purchasers.