The estate at 4707 Belmont Ave. in Vancouver has an assessed value of $70 million. But, even with B.C.’s land ownership transparency act, the quest continues to figure out who actually owns it.
Article content
Postmedia News has been trying to figure out the owner of Canada’s second most-expensive house, at 4707 Belmont Ave. in Vancouver, for more than a decade. Its assessed value is $70 million.
Article content
Then Vancouver Sun reporter Jeff Lee tried to get to the bottom of the matter in 2013, when the house was the priciest in Canada, since the owner’s name didn’t show up in B.C.’s Land Title Registry or corporate registries. Given the mystery, Lee tracked down the architect of the expansive home, the lawyer for the owner and the contractor who did the stonework. They all said they were under strict orders to not disclose the owner’s name.
Article content
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
Flash-forward to 2026 — years after the B.C. government promised to make it easy for the public to find the names of the beneficial owners of B.C. properties, whether the investigators be journalists, financial institutions or law-enforcement officers.
Article content
FP West: Energy Insider
Article content
When the B.C. NDP launched the Land Ownership Transparency Registry Act seven years ago, it boasted that, in response to advocacy from journalists and other interested parties, the province is going … to allow searches at no cost for everyone.”
Article content
By 2023, the government required full compliance from all B.C. property owners.
Article content
But, as an illustration of continuing transparency problems, it’s still not possible for the public to find the name of the owner of this estate overlooking Spanish Banks, with its 25,000-square-foot mansion and 13,534-square-foot pool.
Article content
Land title records show the property continues to be owned by Pisonii (PTC) Ltd., which Lee discovered 13 years ago wasn’t registered in B.C. When the property was purchased in 2005, it was bought by a related company, Pisonii Ltd., which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, an international tax haven where Lee found corporate identities are protected.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
The question of who owns 4707 Belmont serves as a test. If the public isn’t able to determine the owner of one of the most high-profile residences in the country, how many owners continue to conceal their identities?
Article content
Read More
Article content
Some other billionaire homeowners in B.C. aren’t hiding.
Article content
Journalists routinely publish the name of the famous owner of the most expensive house in Canada — Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. B.C. Assessment pegs his house, at 3085 Point Grey Rd., at $73 million. The most costly house in the rest of Canada is reported to be worth less than $60 million.
Article content
The $42-million home of private-school owner Peter Chung, at 4743 Belmont, the fourth most expensive in B.C., also occasionally gets mentioned in the news. So does the fifth priciest home in the province, a $40-million estate at 4719 Belmont, owned by developer Nezhat Khosrowshashi. Others, too.
Article content
“You should be able to get a report on the actual human owners” of 4707 Belmont, said Ron Usher, former general counsel for the Societies Notary Public of B.C. “It’s long past the requirement to comply” with the registry law.
