Pursuits
Vancouver Wields C$10,000-a-Day Fine in Crackdown on Empty Homes
- Canada’s priciest property market plans new tax by Jan. 1
- City plans to tax empty properties 1% of their assessed value
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Want to keep your million-dollar luxury pad in Vancouver empty? Get ready to pay C$10,000 ($7,450) annually in extra taxes. Lie about it? That’ll be C$10,000 a day in fines.
Canada’s most-expensive property market, suffering from a near-zero supply of rental homes, announced the details of a new tax aimed at prodding absentee landlords into making their properties available for lease. The empty-home tax will take effect by Jan. 1 and will be calculated at 1 percent of the property’s assessed value, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told reporters at City Hall.