Vancouver wants to cancel the sale of a $1.6 million leasehold condo auctioned off for delinquent taxes last year, after learning the owner has been dead for eight years.

Property taxes for 1208-1575 West 10th Ave. hadn’t been paid to the city since 2019 and it was sold at a deep discount at the city’s annual tax sale last November.

The unit is owned by the Vancouver school board and was leased long-term to Melba Dorothy Hoffman, the leasehold owner.

The city said it had tried to send notices and messages to Hoffman before and after the tax sale as required by the Vancouver Charter. Notices were successfully sent to the Vancouver school board, but not to Hoffman, whom the city said it had had no confirmed communication in “many years.”

On Nov. 6, 2024, the unit sold for the bid price o

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