Sale Verification Form [SVF]

A Sale Verification Form [SVF] is a short, property-specific questionnaire about a purchase or transfer recorded for the property identified in the letter. It asks the purchaser to confirm what was acquired, the price and date, how the property was marketed, the relationship between the parties, and any terms or conditions that may have influenced the transaction.

The Land Titles indicate that an individual or company purchased or otherwise acquired an interest in the property identified in the letter. MASG is asking the purchaser to confirm the transaction information because the purchaser is well placed to explain what was acquired and the conditions under which the transfer occurred.

Receiving a form does not mean there is a problem with the transaction, the property, or its assessment. Sale verification is a routine part of maintaining accurate sales data and preparing fair and equitable assessments.

An Assessor's Request for Information [RFI] is the statutory process that allows an assessor to collect information needed for assessment purposes. The Sale Verification Form [SVF] is the specific form MASG uses in this instance to obtain information about the transaction identified in the letter.

The broader request-for-information process explains the legal authority and response deadline. The questions a purchaser is asked to answer are the sale-specific questions in the SVF.

Land Titles records provide important information, but they do not always show the complete economic terms of a transaction. The registered consideration may differ from the amount attributable to the real property, and a title transfer may result from a gift, estate, corporate reorganization, family transfer, foreclosure, court order, or another arrangement that is not an ordinary open-market sale.

Land Titles records also may not identify personal property, business assets, multiple parcels, special financing, repairs, or other conditions included in the transaction. The form allows the assessor to verify those details directly with a participant in the transaction.

The SVF may ask a purchaser to confirm:

• the actual purchase price and the date the price was agreed upon;
• whether the purchaser and seller were related or had another prior relationship;
• whether the transfer involved unusual pressure, a court order, foreclosure, trade, special financing, or other atypical conditions;
• whether the price included multiple parcels, personal property, equipment, inventory, goodwill, GST, or other amounts not attributable to the real estate; and
• the property's use and physical condition at the time of sale, including known damage, incomplete construction, repairs, renovations, or upgrades.

An arm's-length transaction is one in which the purchaser and seller act independently and neither party controls or has a special relationship with the other. An open-market transaction generally involves willing and knowledgeable parties, reasonable exposure to the market, and no unusual pressure to buy or sell.

These terms help the assessor decide whether the sale is consistent with the Municipal Government Act definition of market value: the amount a property might be expected to realize if sold on the open market by a willing seller to a willing buyer.

Complete the SVF and identify the nature of the transfer. Examples include a gift, inheritance, estate distribution, transfer between relatives, transfer between related companies, change in the form of ownership, foreclosure, court-ordered sale, partial-interest transfer, or transaction involving a trade or special financing.

Identify the items and, where possible, the portion of the total price attributable to them. 

Examples may include furniture, movable equipment, vehicles, inventory, business value or goodwill, crops, livestock, or another property. 

This allows the assessor to distinguish the consideration paid for the land and improvements from amounts paid for other assets.

Identify every parcel or property included in the transaction and provide any available allocation of the total purchase price. A combined price cannot be treated as the sale price of one property without accounting for the other property included.

It is important to understand what existed at the time of sale. Damage, deferred maintenance, incomplete construction, contamination, or other conditions may have influenced the price. Work completed after the purchase may explain why the property's current condition differs from its condition when the price was negotiated.

Please separate the property's condition at the time of sale from renovations, additions, repairs, demolition, cleanup, or other work completed afterward.

Enter the correct information in the SVF and explain the discrepancy. 

If the property or transaction identified in the letter does not relate to you, email MASG promptly at Office@MASG.ca rather than disregarding the form.

Provide all information reasonably available and explain which questions cannot be answered and why. 

Do not guess. 

If a lawyer, realtor, accountant, co-owner, property manager, or another person holds the information, consult that person or arrange for a coordinated response.

Yes. 

The SVF accompanying the letter is a formal request made under section 295(1) of Alberta's Municipal Government Act. That section requires a person to provide information requested by an assessor when it is necessary for the assessor's legislated duties and responsibilities.

Complete the SVF using the information reasonably available. If you are uncertain why a sale-specific question applies, review these FAQs and then contact MASG for clarification rather than disregarding the form.

Submit the completed SVF by the response date stated in the letter. Section 295(4) of the Municipal Government Act refers to a 60-day period measured from the date of the request.

If you need clarification or believe additional time may be required, contact MASG as soon as possible and before the stated response date. Contacting MASG does not by itself change the statutory 60-day period.

Without the completed SVF, the assessor will classify the transaction and complete the sales analysis using other available information. Important facts about what was included in the purchase or what influenced the price may therefore be unavailable to the assessor.

Under section 295(4) of the Municipal Government Act, a person who fails to provide requested information within 60 days from the date of the request may not make a complaint about the resulting assessment in the following year. The Act also permits an application to the Court of King's Bench for an order requiring requested information to be produced.

Not automatically. A sale price is one item of market evidence. Alberta legislation requires market-value assessments to be prepared using mass appraisal, which analyzes groups of similar properties using standard methods and common data and reflects typical market conditions as of the legislated valuation date.

The assessed value therefore may be higher than, lower than, or equal to a property's individual sale price.

There is no predetermined result. The purpose is to ensure that the transaction and property information used for assessment is accurate and properly understood.

The assessor may use the SVF response to classify the transaction, determine whether it is representative of market value, account for amounts attributable to non-real-estate items, and develop or test mass-appraisal models. In practical terms, sale verification helps ensure that suitable sales are used and that the assessor understands each transaction before relying on it.

Use the QR code in the letter or visit masg.ca/svf and click ‘GET STARTED’ at the top of the page to complete and submit the SVF online. The online option can be completed when convenient and does not require you to pay return-mail costs.

A knowledgeable representative may assist with the response. If the representative needs to receive confidential property information or communicate on the purchaser behalf, MASG may require a completed authorization form – please reach out to Office@masg.ca to start the authorization process. The purchaser remains responsible for ensuring that the response is accurate, complete, and submitted on time.

Information collected for municipal assessment purposes must be managed in accordance with Alberta's Protection of Privacy Act and other applicable assessment and access-to-information requirements. These obligations apply to MASG when it performs assessment services under contract to a municipality.

Not necessarily. A complete SVF will often resolve the sale-verification questions, but MASG may contact the purchaser if an answer requires clarification or supporting information. An inspection may still be required when the property's characteristics or condition cannot be confirmed from the available records.

No. Completing the SVF confirms information about the transaction. It does not mean that the purchaser agrees with the current or future assessment. However, failing to provide requested information within the statutory 60-day period will prevent an assessment complaint in the following year.

Review the Sale Verification Form [SVF] and these FAQs at masg.ca/svf. If you still require clarification about the property, transaction, requested sale information, or submission process, email MASG at Office@MASG.ca.

• Municipal Government Act, particularly sections 1(1)(n), 284(3), 289, 294, 295, and 295.1
• Matters Relating to Assessment and Taxation Regulation, 2018, particularly sections 1 and 5 to 9