Sister of woman who lost home in Penticton tax sale grateful council 'did the right thing'

The sister of a Penticton woman whose home was sold in a tax sale described the news that the City was going to reimburse $140,000 as "incredible." The sister said the B.C. Ombudsperson's office called her moments after Penticton council passed a vote to pay $140,922 in compensation....

Sister of woman who lost home in Penticton tax sale grateful council 'did the right thing'

The sister of a Penticton woman whose home was sold in a tax sale described the news that the City was going to reimburse $140,000 as "incredible."

The sister said the B.C. Ombudsperson's office called her moments after Penticton council passed a vote to pay $140,922 in compensation.

"It's absolutely amazing," the sister told iNFOnews.ca.

"Without the public support and the public outrage... (it) probably it would have died a silent death," she said. "It's not just them agreeing to what the Ombudsperson asks for in terms of money, but it's also the fact that I really think now they have to proceed with changing the laws."

The U-turn decision from the City comes less than a week after a scathing report from the B.C. Ombudsperson into how it sold a 60-year-old vulnerable woman's home vastly under below market price to settle a $10,000 outstanding tax debt.

The Ombudsperson described the sale as "unfair" and along with recommendations to the provincial government, asked the City of Penticton to pay half the equity that was lost in the home to the tune of $140,922.

The City initially refused, but in a five to one vote yesterday, Dec. 14, passed a motion offering an official apology along with the compensation money.

The Ombudsperson's report uses the pseudonym Ms. Wilson, for the Penticton woman who lost her home, and refers to her sister as Ms. Allen. iNFOnews.ca has agreed to use the same pseudonyms to protect Wilson's identity.

Allen said she thanked council for "doing the right thing."

"It's not the full value of what she would have got if she had sold her house herself, but I think that it will certainly extend her ability to survive financially," Allen said.

The house was sold in the tax auction for $150,000 when it was valued at $420,000. A few years later it sold for just shy of $500,000.

"It's still way below market value if she had been able to stay there," she said.

Allen said her sister will be happy that hopefully, the same situation won't happen again to someone else.

"She is a very caring person... it will be a weight off her shoulder (that) it may, in the end, help others," she said.

All along, Allen has campaigned for the law to be changed and she's hopeful the Ombudsperson's recommendations will be taken seriously and adopted by the provincial government.

While the council has said an official apology will be made, and council were unanimous in saying the situation was "tragic," much of the talk at yesterday's meeting involved councillors defending how the file was handled and instead blamed "the system." They said staff followed the process.

City of Penticton chief administrative officer Donny van Dyk pointed to the one phone call the City made to Wilson and how she had told them not to call back.

The B.C. Ombudsperson had said these things should have been seen as a "red flag" that something wasn't right, and that the City had a duty to call Interior Health.

"Defending that kind of attitude, it's shocking... defending that that was good enough, that to me is very uncaring, (and) unwilling to accept their responsibility," Allen said.

So does she see it as a victory?

"Yes, if they get the laws changed and it saves other people, absolutely," she said.

Allen is very grateful for the work the Ombudsperson put into its report and reiterates her thanks to the public for the outcry over what took place.

"I really don't think it would have happened without them," she said.

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