if you are not home for 6 months+, doesn't that mean your home is kinda um, vacant??

honestly they should just charge by electricity usage, if you need to exempt out, then file an appeal.

Sorry for late response but they could have added it in to your property taxes, apply for it at the same time you apply for your property tax grant for principal resident. I mean isn't it the people who live at their principle resident that are most likely to qualify for the exemption? That makes to much sense though and Governments love bureaucracy I mean if you aren't being inefficient you're not Governing right.

The way they've implemented it doesn't make any sense, not only that but they've added a cost that doesn't need to be there in preparing and mailing out another million plus letters but it's only money and in the grand scheme of things is a drop in a bucket.

^
The way I see it, they did that and everyone would be bitching that they didn’t notice it in their property tax forms cuz they don’t even read that shit and just pay it.

Also you can’t be sure how it’s being collected. Is it the city? Is it the province? Maybe the 2 are not the same department, lots of background details that you might not be aware of that made your version impossible.

Can’t make everyone happy.

Empty Homes Tax gave how many months notice before we had to declare? it felt like a at least a whole year from inception before it was actually implemented.

Now this Spec Tax declaration needs to be done by March? WTF? Am I the only one that hasn't heard of this until this month?

I don't understand why they couldn't just use data from the Home Owner's grant program.

You know, that other provincial thing we already fill out every year to indicate that we live in our own homes (or not).

^^ What about rental units. I a lot of tenants don't give or give mails that belongs to the landlord late so does this mean the landlord will be punish for it?

Jesus Christ. Do your fucking due diligence, learn the fucking rules and look at your fucking mail.
If you are too stupid to do that you have no business being a landlord.
Wahhhhh how am I supposed to renew my insurance? What do I do? Government do it for me!!! How do I sign up for a phone???? Why is life so fucking hard???

^
Damn dude, you're salty today!

:lol

you dont follow any news nor check the mailbox at least once every 60 days?

if they do e-mail people will just bitch it went to spam folder BibleThump

What if you are an oversea landlord or live in another Province? As someone have mention (other than me) the gov should just roll this into property tax. Is much much easier and if people want to to be exempt they can just call in or file online (like how people can apply for grant when paying your property tax).

wtf do you do when the boiler is down or you have a leak? that's why you hire a property manager

...annnd that's why it's called a speculation tax, if you're a landlord not in the country, this fee was meant for you

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/t...nd-vacancy-tax

either way ,not responding within 60 days is your responsibility...can't believe people are still pulling excuses

If you can’t be present to opt out, you’re probably part of the problem.

At the very least, it means you are of means and worst case can probably take the hit of the tax initially until you sort it out.

Don’t feel too bad about somone not being able to fill the form out cause they are in Hawaii for 6 months

apparently there's a thing where you can forward mail to another address.
who would've thought

Own property in 2 countries, but have zero friends or capability of hearing any news from both places.

Don’t think they forward out of Country. What will this poor resident of Vancouver do?

who has time for news and friends when you have to work 7 days a week

I've seen ignorant comments elsewhere like: "If you can't afford the speculation tax, then sell your vacation home and let a family move in full time!"

If any of those owners have a place like my parent's lakefront cottage, then good fucking luck living there year round.

- There is no electricity (solar and generator)
- There is no running water (pumped from lake with generator with self treatment)
- There is no road maintenance (cottage association pools money to do it themselves)
- There is no snow plowing done (95% of vehicles can't make it)
- You want internet/cable? $$$
- Pay taxes for services you won't receive or use: schools, roads, garbage/recycling, public transit.

I don't think my parent's will be effected by this (yet), but I have come across a few places on the coast which are partially or full off grid and might. I will admit that vacation homes have become ridiculous recently. Our cottage is quite modest compared to the monstrosities which have been built out there in the past decade, but they are still all off grid.

edit: It's not like my parents are rolling in dough and decided to invest in a vacation home. They inherited the property from my Grandfather, who bought it for $500 in the 1950's. Over decades my parents slowly cleared the beach, built the dock, the stairs, built the cottage, and built all the systems to make it livable. Not everyone with a vacation home is wealthy, nor do they have any intention of speculating on the market.

^
Yah but keep in mind it's relative to the assessed value. What's the assessed value of a place like that? $25,000? They'll pay $250 a year and they could sell it for a massive profit over what your grandfather paid for it anytime they want and all the work they put into it would be reflected in that selling price. I don't see the problem for your family in your example even if their property ever gets captured by this tax.

I'm with you 100%.
The problem is that our socialist nation allowed capitalism to run amok in real estate. Opening us up to global riches did nothing to help the province. All it did was create a level of inflation that isn't measured for some reason. Our real estate dollars have shrunk to 1/3 of what they were worth 15 years ago, and that's a shame.

Your family issues are collateral damage from attempting to fix a problem that truly needs fixing.

pretty obvious the comments you read were directed at secondary residences in urban centres (Kelowna, Vancouver, Victoria)

not an inaccessible cabin that doesn't have water and electricity

Sorry to revisit an old post, I haven't logged on in a very long time and just checked the notifications.

The 500k that we used to purchase the first condo we rolled into a brand new 2 (950 sqft) bedroom condo fully paid off no mortgage in the heart of Brentwood.

The gains we made from the sale were rolled into 1 other presale also at Brentwood. Also 2 bedroom (940sqft). Think we paid 480k on that one.

The building is called Escala. We only put in what was required for deposits for now and the rest of the money is in savings, waiting for the next opportunity to buy or invest. We didn't want to lock everything up and wanted to be able to close on deals quickly if we needed to.

Hopefully 2BR's drop below $525k again.

Depends where in Surrey you can find a 2BR for 500k but it might not be the newest ones.

1110 13398 104 AVENUE
Surrey, British Columbia
MLS® Number: R2333821
Listed for $538,000


508 13303 CENTRAL AVENUE
Surrey, British Columbia
MLS® Number: R2312844
Listed for $438,000

Just a few examples but they are out there.

Very surprise to see there are still brand new and pre sale two bedroom that's 800+ sq ft. Usually now they are like below 800sq ft some never smaller (Micro or jr 2 bedroom). Just wondering how much you paid for for places?