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Vancouver Empty Homes Tax & the BC Speculation Tax.


The information on this site refers mainly to the Vancouver Empty Homes Tax. However, we are also concerned with the BC Speculation Tax. With the introduction of similar taxes in various Ontario municipalities, information on this website is of relevance to property owners in these cities in organizing a similar coalition for the purpose of lobbying for change or legal action.

We have engaged a constitutional lawyer who has prepared a  constitutional legal challenge  against both laws. Background information on faults of the Speculation Tax can be found on a blog at Pazder Law Corporation.

In November 2016, the city of Vancouver enacted a very unjust surtax on certain homeowners through the Vacancy bylaw. In April of 2017, we launched the Vacant Homes Tax Coalition to fight this. Initially, throughout the consultation process, City administration suggested that those who actively use their secondary homes would be exempt. However in the bylaw’s final form, no such recognition of second homes required and regularly used by their owners was made.   Our homes were deemed “empty”, and were subjected to the same high tax rate as properties which actually were empty.”  An Ernst & Young report commissioned by the city, advised that …“Any provision of tax discounts or exemptions designed to ensure that the tax is equitable and fair would have the unintended effect of incentivizing and risking an increase in the incidence of tax avoidance as well as an increase in associated administrative costs to the City.” Presumably, the city wanted a simple solution, on a complex problem decades in the making, without all the work it takes to be fair.

Many small business & professional people need a 2nd home in Vancouver to carry out their work with regular visits.  There are also many personal reasons why people need a 2nd home in the city, including family obligations and medical care.

The city could  allow for exempting actively used 2nd homes. Other cities which have vacancy taxes have structured them in such a way that recognizes valid interests, and values fairness in  their application. To be clear, the coalition does not support investors buying homes and leaving them empty for profit. That is the situation targeted by the legislation and promoted by the City as the target of the legislation, but it is not our situation. We are homeowners who in good faith purchased a home that is used on a regular basis throughout the year for valid reasons. Currently the vacancy bylaw states that unless we forego the use of our home for six months of the year by renting it out, we are subject to what is in effect a very heavy fine. That is expropriation by another name. The city of Victoria is as now contemplating the same as is Toronto, Hamilton, London and Kingston. This is unjust, unacceptable in a free democracy, and, we strongly believe following legal advice, challengeable in court . Similarly, the enacted provincial Speculation Tax remains constitutionally challengeable, and would come under the same umbrella.

We are now asking for  your help. Please contact us via the link later on this website.

The actual results of the tax imposition are well reviewed in a Globe and Mail article by Francis Bula   https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-vancouver-mayor-outlines-effect-of-empty-homes-tax/

If you have been subject to an audit: An excellent legal article by Mr Noah Sarna of Thorsteinssons can be found at:
https://www.thor.ca/blog/2018/07/what-to-expect-in-a-vancouver-vacancy-tax-audit/

The bylaw can be viewed  at: http://bylaws.vancouver.ca/consolidated/11674.PDF

The COV explanation of the  bylaw is at:
http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/empty-homes-tax.aspx

Affected owners should be advised to seek their own professional advice on the Vacancy Tax Bylaw.