TRUST ISSUES
City wants to check up on homeowners as the deadline for the new empty homes tax looms — and it’s not going over well
The City of Vancouver is auditing some of the declarations it received from homeowners ahead of the deadline next week for payment of its new empty homes tax.
It has asked some owners for documents to support claims that their homes or condos are not unoccupied or underused, even though the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C. says it is still reviewing the audit portion of the city’s empty homes tax program.
In a statement, the office said it has no comment for now, but “generally … we would look to see that any personal information collected is necessary to accomplish the goals of the program.”
The city ’s website says its auditing process involves asking property owners, selected at random, to provide evidence including, but not limited to, “tenancy agreements, bank statements showing reoccurring rental income, insurance certificates for tenants insurance, information from (a) long-term tenant providing occupancy, and income tax returns or notices of assessment stating rental income.”
Armida Spada-McDougall, a retired schoolteacher and realtor who owns three condo units at the Wall Centre on Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver, was asked by the city to provide tenancy agreements.
She has been opposed to the tax, and now she is even more irked.
Spada-McDougall says she lives in one of the luxury tower units and rents the other two to longterm tenants.
A few weeks ago, after filing her declaration, the city requested a copy of the rental agreements Spada-McDougall has signed with her tenants. She refused to hand them in even though they could establish her claim and exempt her from the tax. One of her units has been rented out for a year and the other for two years, she says.
“It’s a matter of privacy and trust,” she says.
The city’s empty house tax charges owners one per cent of a property’s assessed value if a unit wasn’t used for more than 180 days in 2017, and it will be charged annually. It is designed to encourage owners to rent out or sell empty or often unused units.
In a city of gripped by housing unaffordability, with high prices for buyers and a near-zero vacancy rate for renters, many have cheered the city’s move. But some owners are protesting, especially as the province has since unveiled its own set of housing taxes.
The city has said it is spending $7.4 million to administer and implement its empty homes tax program, but declined to disclose the number of staff assigned or the money earmarked for auditing purposes.
“The city will not be releasing specific details on the audit program as this may impact its integrity in future years. However, the program is being implemented using best practice audit methodology in line with provincial and federal taxation authorities,” a spokesperson said.
The city says it “has ensured that all personal information collected for the purposes of administering the (empty homes tax) is collected, used, stored and protected in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act of British Columbia.”
The privacy commissioner’s office said it agrees with this.