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GNWT changes land lease fees

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As of April 1, the GNWT has changed the way it determines land lease fees on Commissioner’s land and territorial land.

As of April 1, the GNWT has changed the way it determines land lease fees on Commissioner’s land and territorial land.

The changes will be made to lease rent contracts as they go through their individual five-year reviews.

As of April 1, the GNWT has changed the way it determines land lease fees on Commissioner’s land and territorial land.

Blair Chapman, the director of Commissioner’s Land Administration for the GNWT, said the changes were set in motion with devolution.

“As a new lands department, we recognized the need to begin the review of updating some of our fee structures,” said Chapman.

The changes are mostly aimed at levelling out land fees.

“On the edges of communities, you might have recreational land that somebody has a recreational lease with the commissioner and you might have, just on the other side of the lake, a territorial lands lease for recreational purposes that would be valued under a very different amount.”

To start, the minimum annual lease rent on both is now $840 whereas the previous minimums were $600 for Commissioner’s land and $150 for territorial land.

As well, residential lease rent on Commissioner’s land will now be calculated at five per cent of assessed value, with assessment formulas determined by the Department of Community Affairs. Other types of leases will be measured at 10 per cent.

Lease rent on territorial land will continue to be calculated at 10 per cent of appraised value, which is determined considering factors like current market rates.

“These residential leases that I referred to with regards to Commissioner’s lands actually are mostly, if not all, outside of Yellowknife because they are (near) the smaller communities,” said Chapman.

A leaseholder for a cabin on territorial land near Yellowknife sent a letter to the Department of lands, as well as media, outlining several issues she has with the new system.

Alexandra Hood stated these changes are increasing her annual fees by 560 per cent, and that if a change of that magnitude were to happen at a municipal property, it would likely be appealed to the NWT Rental Office.

Hood also stated that the GNWT’s approach should be more in line with, say, the one the City of Yellowknife takes in regards to property tax increases – gradual raises over multiple years.

As well, Hood expressed displeasure that leaseholders were being charged more while she sees unauthorized cabins continue to be used around the territory.

Last year, the GNWT announced it is working on a strategy to deal with this as it makes changes to its recreational leasing framework.

Chapman said the fee changes are the first of many changes to take place, with public consultation at each stage.

The fee changes, he said, are the result of complaints of inconsistency in fee structures that were raised at public meetings, in addition to the glaring discrepancies noted by the government as it took over management of most NWT lands from the federal government after devolution.