Vancouver Wields C$10,000-a-Day Fine in Crackdown on Empty Homes

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by misher

It depends, is this for increasing our rental supply or for raising taxes. Because the first had always been the justification for the tax. And I don’t think the first benefits from a 28 million dollar rental.

I'm pretty sure the money is set aside for low income housing. And frankly, if you'd rather pay it than rent your property... thanks!

[Sheba]

White Rock wants version of Vancouver’s empty homes tax

Vancouver’s empty homes tax has proven successful enough that at least one other B.C. municipality wants its own version.

But Vancouver never had to face the provincial rules that bar those municipalities from imposing new taxes.

White Rock Mayor Darryl Walker wants to change that, and intends to bring up the issue at September’s Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) annual meeting.

“It’s my hope we talk to a lot of other mayors who have the same position,” he said. “It’s only Vancouver who has this special rule, and the rest of us can use some more flexibility on how to deal with our community.”

The UBCM meeting is the place where B.C.’s nearly 200 municipalities can hope to spark change across the province — provided that members sign on.

Under the province’s Community Charter, municipalities don’t have the authority to impose taxes or fees beyond basic taxes on property, land and local services.

But Vancouver has its own, separate charter that allowed it to construct and impose its empty homes tax in late 2016 without provincial oversight or approval.

Walker wants to cut through that red tape, saying the number of empty homes in the seaside community exacerbates the lack of affordable housing.

“We’re a part of Metro Vancouver, and I think it’s an expectation that all of Metro Vancouver produce something for increased housing,” the mayor said. “We think some of the houses that are empty, that aren’t being used, should be either asked to make them available or be taxed.”

Many of the empty homes littering White Rock are also larger, expensive homes that Walker says are likely being used as investments — something Vancouver knows all too well.

Vancouver’s empty homes tax, the first of its kind in North America, applies an additional one per cent levy on residential properties that prove to be vacant for a majority of the year.

The city estimates it collected $38 million in the first year of the tax, plus an additional $6.2 million from hundreds of audited properties.

All of the money went towards affordable housing in Vancouver, which Walker says is a fund that White Rock also needs.

“We have a small tax base here, and very little land to share around, so [building affordable housing] will cost us a fair amount of money,” he said. “We want to increase livability in White Rock, and a tax fund would help with that.”

White Rock Coun. Anthony Manning introduced a motion for a vacancy tax in January, calling for a five per cent levy on commercial and residential properties.

The motion was sent for a review to city staff, who came back to say it wouldn’t be allowed under the Community Charter.

White Rock may want to be careful of what they wish for, however: Vancouver is now facing up to four lawsuits over its empty homes tax.

Walker knows he’ll also face pushback if White Rock ends up introducing a similar tax, but he says there’s a simple solution.

“If you don’t want to pay the tax, fill your home, have people living there, rent it out,” he said. “Then you won’t have to worry about it.”

[whatnext]

Hey look, we made CNN! Nice to know the wife of one of the toadies in China's parliament, illegally holding two Canadians, gets to enjoy our fair city:

(CNN)The wife of a Chinese multimillionaire is suing the Vancouver government over a $200,000 tax bill she was served for allegedly leaving a $20.4 million mansion empty, highlighting the staggering wealth Chinese investors have parked in the Canadian city.

Vancouver is consistently ranked one of North America's most-expensive housing markets and experts say prices there have skyrocketed in large part due to Chinese investment.

He Yiju purchased the ocean-view mansion on Belmont Avenue, one of Vancouver's most exclusive addresses that has been dubbed "Billionaire's Row," in 2015. Her husband Zheng Jianjiang, a top politician in China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, is not named on the property listing. Their family had a combined net worth of $925 million in October 2018, according to Forbes...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/10/asia/...hnk/index.html

[whatnext]

Great news, vacancy taxes are working as intended!
Not only are units helf by offshore money being returned to the market, but developers will think twice about recting buildings that cater to the whims of foreign buyers anxious for a third home.

Vacancy taxes prompt sale of luxury condos in Downtown Vancouver

If you’re in the market for a luxury condo in Downtown Vancouver, you’ve got a lot of choice. There are 15 condos for sale at Trump Tower on 1151 West Georgia St., priced from $1.298 million to $5.88 million.

Across the street at the Living Shangri-La at 1128 West Georgia St. and 1111 Alberni St., there are 17 condos for sale, ranging from $950,000 to $5.788 million.

There are 13 listings in the three-tower Harbour Green development at 1039-1069 West Cordova St. and 277 Thurlow St. in Coal Harbour. All of the listings are over $4 million, six are over $10 million and one has a list price of $38,888,000.

The glut of high-end listings even applies to buildings that aren’t built yet, like 1550 Alberni. The 43-storey structure designed by Japanese “starchitect” Kengo Kuma won’t be completed until 2020, but there are already 12 condos for sale there, from $1.74 million to $5.6 million.

What’s happening? To some degree, non-resident owners are selling their local pied-a-terres because they don’t want to pay vacancy taxes introduced by the city and the province.

“Many of these homes were purchased as second homes or third homes,” said real estate consultant Michael Geller. “People loved having a nice place in Vancouver for when they came here. Then we got the empty-home tax. That’s one per cent, but then the province comes in with the speculation tax, and if the unit is worth more than $3 million, then you have a (school) tax as well....
https://vancouversun.com/business/re...town-vancouver

[trofirhen]

all good! This me the feeling that we're empowering ourselves to take back our city. (Whether or not that's Politically Correct; at this point I just feel relieved to see progress!!)

[misher]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Great news, vacancy taxes are working as intended!

The intention was to push people to rent out their homes to create affordable housing. These units will never be affordable rentals. Plus stats have showed little change in the vacancy rate in Vancouver since the tax came in.

What this does do is push regular rich tourists to sell and leave and never come back.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by misher

The intention was to push people to rent out their homes to create affordable housing. These units will never be affordable rentals. Plus stats have showed little change in the vacancy rate in Vancouver since the tax came in.

What this does do is push regular rich tourists to sell and leave and never come back.

Good! Get some of that vacancy tax money put to good use, force a sale (to a local), generate some PTT. Get "regular" people living there and participating in society.

Meanwhile this will give developers the message to stop building towers full of $3M+ units for foreign money.

[s211]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Great news, vacancy taxes are working as intended!

One potential flip side is that we're losing people that were paying property taxes while at the same time using little-to-no civic services. The city will be losing that benefit.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by s211

One potential flip side is that we're losing people that were paying property taxes while at the same time using little-to-no civic services. The city will be losing that benefit.

Those taxes will be paid regardless. What civic services were we saving on? Condos are private waste collection, police and fire are staffed basically to population levels.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by s211

One potential flip side is that we're losing people that were paying property taxes while at the same time using little-to-no civic services. The city will be losing that benefit.

Are we? We're probably gaining somebody who works and shops locally. A far better trade off.

[Aroundtheworld]

Originally Posted by misher

The intention was to push people to rent out their homes to create affordable housing. These units will never be affordable rentals. Plus stats have showed little change in the vacancy rate in Vancouver since the tax came in.

What this does do is push regular rich tourists to sell and leave and never come back.

Even though these are luxury units, there will be a bit of a trickle-down effect. People who were looking to upgrade now have an opening which will then lead to a cascade downwards.

My brother in NY observed that housing prices had gone even though only high-end units were being built. It's all about supply and demand.

[misher]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Good! Get some of that vacancy tax money put to good use, force a sale (to a local), generate some PTT. Get "regular" people living there and participating in society.

Meanwhile this will give developers the message to stop building towers full of $3M+ units for foreign money.

Developers aren't the ones that say what to build the city is through zoning, parking regulations, and fees. I don't know why people blame developers when the city is incredibly regulated so there just operating within the rules. The city and province received billions in taxes from these luxury units which went to benefit you and subsidize your taxes, and now your sneering at it without giving the money back? Vancouver is cutting its anticipated income from development fees in half this year simply because were not building enough strata condos, and we will all pay the higher taxes either directly or passed on through increase rents/food costs/cost of goods or services. When idiots spend over $500+ million annually on taxes towards our governments I don't insult them, I thank them and hold my hand out for more. We're literally saying we don't want suckers we want to pay more ourselves which basically makes us the suckers.

[Migrant_Coconut]

For the umpteenth time, nobody is paying any more taxes (also, that's the province and fed's jurisdiction). City Council just spends less.

[whatnext]

West Vancouver wants the ability to impose an empty homes tax:

West Vancouver has a large number of foreign homeowners and while these owners are subject to the province's speculation tax, the city's mayor wants the municipality to have the power to tax them further.

Mayor Mary-Ann Booth says the city would like to receive direct revenue from the provincial speculation vacancy tax, as well as have the right to impose an additional vacancy tax on top of the provincial one to create more affordable housing.

"This is a real problem," Booth said in a phone interview with CBC's The Early Edition, adding West Vancouver has 1,700 empty homes, which is equivalent to 10 per cent of its total housing stock...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-tax-1.5285087

[rofina]

Originally Posted by whatnext

West Vancouver wants the ability to impose an empty homes tax:

West Vancouver has a large number of foreign homeowners and while these owners are subject to the province's speculation tax, the city's mayor wants the municipality to have the power to tax them further.

Mayor Mary-Ann Booth says the city would like to receive direct revenue from the provincial speculation vacancy tax, as well as have the right to impose an additional vacancy tax on top of the provincial one to create more affordable housing.

"This is a real problem," Booth said in a phone interview with CBC's The Early Edition, adding West Vancouver has 1,700 empty homes, which is equivalent to 10 per cent of its total housing stock...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-tax-1.5285087

West Van.

They literally don't want people there. They should be giving people a discount to keep their homes vacant.

[misher]

Originally Posted by rofina

West Van.

They literally don't want people there. They should be giving people a discount to keep their homes vacant.

Yeah I'm surprised the mayor of W. Van is talking about more taxes to reduce home prices in a city thats mostly homeowners. Seems a tad suicidal. At least in Richmond the mayor ran on a platform of lowering property taxes and petitioning to exempt them from the speculation tax. There's a reason he's been in since 2001. Richmond is an example of what a right wing oriented city can achieve (low taxes, low crime, beautiful environment, affordable housing, few homeless, and great schooling). I've posted his platform below because I love the guy and wish more politicians were like him. I think he received 4x more votes than the 2nd place candidate in the last election. Richmond's spending is just plain smarter than Vancouver's, they spend a lot less and achieve a lot more. They also don't spend on stupid causes.

Keeping Richmond a Safe, Liveable, Affordable & Sustainable City
My commitments include:

Work with other levels of government and our many partners to keep Richmond liveable, healthy and affordable for our residents and businesses.
Expand housing choices that are affordable for people of all ages, from youth to seniors.
Celebrate and enhance our cultural and economic diversity.
Retain our agricultural base with lands in the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Focus on improving the environment within the City to address climate change and greenhouse gas issues.
Keep Richmond safe for our residents and businesses alike.
Expand and enhance our many public recreational areas, parks and facilities.
Support the business sector as it grows locally and internationally. Encourage more international trade and cultural relations.
Balance growth in emerging areas, making them sustainable with a full range of public amenities.
Support and encourage our volunteers. Let them know the value of their tremendous contribution to all in our City.
Provide cost-effective City services through sound financial planning and technology – and continue to keep Richmond’s taxes low.
Strongly regulate the production and sale of cannabis in our City.

[NotToScale]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

all good! This me the feeling that we're empowering ourselves to take back our city. (Whether or not that's Politically Correct; at this point I just feel relieved to see progress!!)

This city (and country) needs to be a little less worried about being PC

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by NotToScale

This city (and country) needs to be a little less worried about being PC

Thank you! ... it needs to be a whole lot less worried about being PC, which is stifling everything from mountain names, to city square names, to free speech. Back to topic.

[SpongeG]

OPINION: Goodbye, Victoria: B.C.’s speculation tax is forcing us to leave

By Times Colonist -September 18, 2019

A commentary by John Dudycha, a retired person with a home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who formerly had a part-time home in Victoria’s James Bay neighbourhood.

My wife and I purchased a Victoria vacation condo 14 years ago upon retirement. Because we only use it two to three months each year it is suddenly subject to the new speculation and vacancy tax and we must now leave. We have enjoyed our time here immensely.

The Empress, Royal B.C. Museum, Butchart Gardens, harbour activity, water taxis, Langham Court Theatre productions, many restaurants, wonderful neighbours and the observations of Jack Knox in the Times Colonist are among the many attractions that we will miss.

We are being forced to leave because B.C. Finance Minister Carole James has decreed that we are foreign “speculators” who don’t deserve to be here. It feels like she has withdrawn the Canadian welcome invitation extended to us 14 years ago.

...

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/2...e-victoria-bc/

[whatnext]

Nice to see $39 million roll into Vancouver's coffers from the Empty Homes Tax. And be careful would-be evaders, sounds like the city has some resources to investigate:


Vancouver empty homes tax nets another $39M as number of vacant properties drop, city says

BY SEAN BOYNTON GLOBAL NEWS
Posted November 20, 2019 7:02 pm

Vancouver’s empty homes tax continues to be a revenue generator for the city despite drawing from a shrinking number of vacant homes, the latest report from the city finds.


Released Wednesday, the report reveals that $39.4 million in revenue was raised during the 2018 tax year, which was collected from the owners of 1,989 vacant properties.

That’s a 22 per cent drop from the number of vacant properties taxed in 2017, when 2,538 homes generated $38 million in revenue...

...“For those who choose to keep their properties unoccupied, we appreciate their contributions to the funds that are supporting various, much-needed affordable housing initiatives across the city.”

Another 892 property owners were charged the tax after non-compliance audits were performed on an additional 8,457 properties between Nov. 2, 2018, and Nov. 1, 2019. Those audits raised an additional $22.1 million.

That’s way up from the same period a year ago, when $6.2 million was raised from 331 property owners charged after audits on 6,231 homes....(bold mine)

https://globalnews.ca/news/6197311/v...-revenue-2019/