With a home vacancy rate hovering at an unhealthy low of 0.6%, the Vancouver City Council has stepped in and introduced the Empty home tax which will be implemented from January 1, 2017.
This tax is an additional 1% of property value on top of your regular property tax. That means if you have a property that’s worth $2 million and it is neither your primary residence nor rented out for at least 6 months in the year, you will need to fork out an additional $20,000 in tax.
This surely is one way to address the housing crisis since it may encourage the owner of this secondary property to put their property up for lease.
Owners of these secondary properties usually kept it empty as they are concerned about managing their tenants because they are not familiar with the Residential Tenancy Act, wear and tear are definitely another concern too. A simple win-win solution to the matter is to hire a professional property management company to avoid getting caught in the net of the tax man or a bad tenant.
If you think it is time to speak to a property manager then answer these questions. Are you curious how it works? Take a look at our rental management process to have a better understanding of how it works.
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