City of Ottawa Vacant Unit Tax: deadline to declare is March 21

Q: Besides the home I live in, I own two small rental properties in Ottawa. In my interim tax bills, I received a flyer telling me I need to register the occupancy status of each property for Ottawa’s Vacant Unit Tax (VUT). When the city adopted it, I thought the new tax was a bad policy, wasting the city’s resources and implicitly dissing the public’s good sense while doubling some tax bills. Of course, I want my rentals occupied! When they are vacant, I lose money. Anyone keeping a property vacant must have a good reason to do so. And anyway, it’s the owner’s property to use as they wish. Didn’t the new council cancel the VUT?

A: A number of councillors brought a motion to abolish the VUT. Instead, council voted by 15 to eight to go through with the appeal and audit phases — and the collection of the tax for 2023 — and then to evaluate the results. Realistically, the key question will be how many taxpayers are still unhappy.

The city should be most of the way through their audit process, checking a sample of declarations for properties that were not charged the VUT, to ensure the information provided was accurate. The city says the audit uses “varied criteria to select an unbiased sampling of properties impartially.” The city has notified selected property owners by letter or by email.

Owners wishing to appeal the result of an audit have 90 days to file an appeal with the city.

The VUT applies to certain properties within the residential tax class ( buildings of six units or fewer, used or intended for residential use). All residential condo units are potentially subject to the VUT, even if they are part of a building operated all together as a rental building.

A residential unit is considered vacant if it has been unoccupied for a total of more than 184 days during the previous calendar year. Putting that another way, to be considered occupied, a property generally has to have been occupied by the owner or by tenants for at least 182 days in periods of at least 30 days. (Short term rentals do not generally qualify.)

Certain properties or units that are vacant are exempt from paying the VUT, but the owner has to register their status. Common examples of properties exempt from paying the tax in 2024 are:

• Principal residences

• Properties that were bought in the previous year

• Properties where the owner died in the previous year or this year

• Properties vacant due to major repairs or renovation with a building permit

• Certain cottages.

The deadline to declare for 2023 is March 21, 2024. Absent a declaration, the VUT will apply, at one per cent of the assessed value.

An owner (or property manager) can complete the declaration online through ottawa.ca/vut

using the roll number and access code included in the November and January VUT mail notices and found at the top of the property tax bill. Declarations can also be completed online using a person’s Myserviceottawa account at https://ottawa.ca/en/ serviceottawa.

For more information, visit ottawa.ca/vut, or contact Revenue Services at 613-580-2444.