Administrative forfeiture

The administrative forfeiture process allows the Director to pursue forfeiture of lower value property associated with unlawful activity, outside of court.

To qualify for administrative forfeiture the value of the property must be under $75,000 and not be real property (e.g., a house).

When commencing administrative forfeiture the Director will provide written notice to all known interest holders and any public body entitled to notice in section 32 of the Civil Forfeiture Act (the Act). The notice will be provided by one of the following means:

• mail to the last known address,
• email to the last known email address,
• fax to the last known fax number 

unless the person's mailing address, email address or fax number is unknown to the Director.

The Director will also publish notice of forfeiture in the BC Gazette Part I, which is searchable online.

Interest holders in the property have the opportunity to dispute administrative forfeiture by submitting a Notice of Dispute Form (PDF, 140KB) which must be affirmed before a commissioner for taking affidavits. 

The deadline to deliver a notice of dispute may vary. Generally, the notice of dispute must be delivered to the Civil Forfeiture office no later than 67 days after the date post-marked on the Notice of Initiation of Administrative Forfeiture of Property. You can find out the post-mark date by visiting the Canada Post website and entering the tracking number located on the envelope you received.

Part 4 of the Act has more information about how deadlines are determined. If you have questions about your deadline to dispute an administrative forfeiture, please contact the Civil Forfeiture Office. The Director cannot extend the timeline to deliver a notice of dispute.

Upon receipt of the Notice of Dispute, the Director will determine whether to commence civil forfeiture proceedings in the BC Supreme Court or withdraw from administrative forfeiture against the subject property. Notice of the Director’s decision will be provided to each known interest holder and the referring law enforcement agency.

If the Director decides to commence civil forfeiture proceedings, the file will follow the same path as if the proceedings had been commenced in the BC Supreme Court in the first instance. See: Civil Forfeiture Proceedings.

Administrative forfeiture of financed vehicles

In 2023, changes to the Civil Forfeiture Act (the Act) authorized the Director to pursue the administrative forfeiture of financed vehicles which it previously was not authorized to do.

As part of the administrative forfeiture steps identified above, the Director will give written notice of administrative forfeiture of the financed vehicle to any specified interest holder, as defined in section 1 of the Act. The specified interest holder may dispute administrative forfeiture.

If forfeiture of a financed vehicle is obtained, the Act requires the Director to discharge the specified interest holder’s security interest from the personal property registry and dispose of the vehicle.

If the amount of proceeds resulting from the disposition of a financed vehicle exceeds the disbursements required by the Act, the Director will notify each specified interest holder of the remaining proceeds. The specified interest holder may claim an interest in the remaining proceeds. Provided the specified interest holder is eligible, the Director will issue payment in accordance with section 42 of the Act.