UDI Webinar - Tax & Legal Updates

PRESENTATIONS:
Lawson Lundell LLP
Ryan ULC
Underused Housing Tax

BIOS

Roque Hsieh (Partner, Tax, KPMG Canada)

Roque is a seasoned professional with more than 25 years? experience in Real Estate Taxation. He is currently the Real Estate Tax Leader in the Greater Vancouver Area.



Roque specializes in real estate transactions including cross-border investments, financings and divestitures. Over the years, he has helped many families and family offices navigate through the complexities of immigration, emigration and the use of Canadian and foreign trusts for estate and family planning purposes. Over the past 10 years, Roque has been involved in a number of significant real estate development projects that have defined the landscape of the community in the Lower Mainland.

Ryan Tung (Principal, Ryan ULC)

Ryan Tung is the Principal, Property Tax British Columbia at Ryan ULC and specializes in providing strategic advice and consulting on commercial and residential properties, including complex development sites, industrial buildings, office buildings, shopping centres/retail complexes, and multifamily residential. Ryan possesses expertise in property taxation and has extensive experience on property tax, additional school tax, empty homes tax, speculation and vacancy tax, and property transfer tax issues. In addition to participating in the Editorial Committee for the Appraisal Institute of Canada and being the BC Chapter Chair of the Canadian Property Tax Association, Ryan also a part of the Property Tax Committee with UDI.

PAUL SULLIVAN (Principal and Regional Leader, Property Tax Complex, Ryan ULC)

Paul Sullivan is Principal and Regional Leader, Property Tax Complex with Ryan ULC and specializes in providing property tax services in the British Columbia region, saving clients millions of dollars in annual property taxes by negotiating on clients? behalf and appearing as an advocate during the assessment appeals process. Paul, is a Board Member and Chair, Property Tax Committee of UDI and appears on behalf of industry, advocating to all levels of government on tax reform and fairness issues and regularly addresses city council meetings, real estate associations, and small business organizations, educating industry on the complex issues surrounding property taxation.

ED WILSON (Partner, Lawson Lundell LLP)

Ed practices in the real estate and municipal law fields with a specialty in real estate development. He has assisted clients in such projects as: redevelopment of industrial sites to permit multi-family residential uses; heritage designation and density bonusing arrangements; rezoning and redevelopment of shopping centres; development of office and industrial parks; development of numerous condominium projects; development and marketing of strata title hotels; purchase of abandoned mining towns; development of mine sites; subdivision of pulp mills and saw mills; assisting municipalities on the redevelopment of downtown urban centres; and commercial lease negotiations for a wide variety of tenants and landlords. He is also one of the leading experts on strata corporation windups having completed a number of strata corporation windups as well as the first court approved windup in BC. Ed has been an active member of a number of committees over the years proposing changes to strata property law, including the BC Law Institute?s committee that recommended changes to the Strata Property Act that allowed for more flexible rules facilitating windups. He now sits on the Board of the BCLI.

MARK LEWIS (moderator) (Partner, Bennett Jones LLP)

Mark Lewis is a partner in the Corporate Group at Bennett Jones LLP practicing in the area of commercial real estate. Mark's practice encompasses the full spectrum of real estate transactions, and development and infrastructure projects, including urban strata projects, business parks, seniors housing, healthcare and education facilities, public works and recreational resorts. He regularly advises local and foreign-based clients in connection with structuring co-ownership, joint venture and partnership relationships for real estate development projects. He also has an active commercial lending practice that focuses on construction and equity financing loans, deposit protection insurance facilities and cross-border business financings. Mark has been a UDI Board member, and has chaired UDI's Legal Issues Committee, since 2012. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC's Real Estate Development Practice Manual and since 2005 he has authored the Manual's "Development Marketing" chapter.