Probably pay the tax but I dont think I'd put myself in that position. I bought a house I can afford without the rental income, wasnt an accident.

If you can't afford to pay for premium fuel for your car because gas taxes are too high, you put some 87 in your car, does the government need to pay for any damage to the motor?
If you can't afford your property taxes, and are forced to sell your home, does the government owe you new one?
You pay the tax, rent the home, sell, make more money. Those are your options, you choose the outcome.

I don't think he went to the news. He posted the video online and the news contacted him.

I also don't think there is much more to the story I have seen this before multiple times.

Because the tenant had legal right to the property at the time, this wouldn't be considered a criminal matter. Unfortunately the only course of action is suing for damages through civil court.

I think your analogy is wrong.
If you own a car and can't afford 91 or opt for the cheapest brake pads, that is like owning a place and not being able to afford the upkeep and doing the bare minimum to keep it from collapsing on you.

Owning and not living in the place would be similar to owning a car and leaving it parked in a garage or on your front lawn.


All good though, carry on.

Great site to find recent sales, make sure you register to see the recent sale info.

https://www.zealty.ca/map.html

You own your home, it's your primary residence, it wouldn't be an issue; so if you're away for over 5 months, say death in family / health issues you have to be overseas, you can apply for justification and plea your case. I personally don't know what that could be.

You are not forced to do anything except pay the vacant home tax. If you can't afford to pay the vacant home tax, you have the option to sell the house, the option to let a relative or friend stay in it for free, or rent it out. You certainly are going to get nowhere trying to sue the government saying they "forced" you to rent it out and then are somehow responsible for the damage done by a tenant that they had no input into vetting...

I don't even understand why even ask the question unless intending to just be inflammatory, there is obviously no scenario where the government is going to compensate you for a bad tenant...

-Mark

You guys and your "can't afford the empty home tax...." I never said you can't afford it so not sure why you guys keep bringing it up.

Mark, what you said, that's the whole thing. Maybe i am jaded because i hear about all the shitty disputes between tenants and LL's. the RTA puts too many rights for tenants. But that's a whole other can of worms.

Thanks for chiming in.

If something comes up that requires an extended stay elsewhere, ask a friend or family member to help babysit your house. Keep the lawn/garden maintained, ask that they spend time there (aka "rent" it to them), have lights/electronics on a timer, ask them to collect mail... basically everything that you would do to ensure that the house looks lived in from a security perspective.

I guess I'm just confused. I don't understand why you are saying you'd be "forced" to rent the place out... the only reason I can see that somebody would have to rent it is to come up with the money to pay the tax. Otherwise, nobody is forcing anything... pay the tax and move on?

I don't understand your point of your original post then, why would you sue the government exactly?

-Mark

cuz if you dont rent out you get penalized via the empty home tax.

yes you dont have to rent it out and just pay the penalty but doing such a thing should be a choice not a requirement

I guess it's kinda saying that you can't own multiple cars and must rent them out on turo if you don't drive it as your primary car or else you must pay a penalty. :heckno:

Shut up! Don't give the government any new fucking tax ideas!

Not trying to be an ass, just trying to clarify.

To avoid the tax, people came up with the idea of "I've rend it out for free to my relative / friend (but in face its vacant)" I shouldn't have to pay tax.

Sneaky realtors tried to tell their buyers this and it back fired.

You let your relative / friend stay there for free; when the audit comes, they will ask who lives there then ask why did they have a primary property already but yet living at your house. Why is the rent free? If your friend lives there, how come the hydro + internet is still under your name (if it is.. OK.. I can accept, but why is the hydro bill showing zero usage).

What you just described is... Lying about your relative/friend stay there.

:facepalm:

Anyone into vacation rental?

More specifically, in ski resorts like Whistler (less likely as the price is nuts), Sun Peaks or even Big Whites.

I'm looking to buy a unit so I can use when I want to hit up the mountain and rent it out as AirBnB the rest of the time.

Anyone has any experience and can provide a bit of insight?

Who's going to do the air bnb clean up work for you. I thought about this before

Whistler is due for some real estate trouble. I’d wait on that. Sun peaks is growing but proximity to an international airport will mean it never becomes the next whistler, no matter who says it will. I’d think it would be a good place to invest and enjoy though.

When we looked into buying a place at Big White 4-5 years ago when the prices had dropped (I don't know where they're at now) because of the high strata fees even if you had it rented out almost full time you'd struggle to break even. The resort is only really busy Dec-Mar but you pay the same fees year round. Then because you want to keep it rented out, you have to plan when you'll use it no differently than renting someone else's place (and you're still paying for it because you're not getting the rental income when you're using it).

In the end we decided against tying up money in something where the resale value is so volatile. When we looked apparently the values had been cut in half vs 5 years prior. Couple that with the steep maintenance fees and it didn't make sense to us, but maybe it's better to someone with more money or more realty experience.

If you do get a place though don't use something super basic for the passcode for the lockbox for the place. A buddy and I accidentally went into the wrong AirBNB once because they both just used the year.

edit: another factor was having zero faith in the current Big White management. They keep throwing money at things that make the hill worse to use and more dangerous, so I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to think something up that tanks property values.

If you don't live close by you are better off having a property management company rent it for you. They can handle all the cleaning and stuff.

I figured given the many AirBnB in big resorts, there should be no problem finding a reliable cleaning company to clean it up every time guests check out.

And just going to install a smart key solution like August or something so access can be granted remotely.

I'm just curious about the occupancy rate should one decide to rent it out on a full time basis.

I think if I were to get it, it's to bring the kids on the weekends (leaving Friday afternoon and come back on Sunday). And as long as it's within the distance, I'm ok.

Found a new condo sale I really liked (recently built, some finishing touches still put on the building), was drafting up the contract with my realtor, and during the title search it showed several liens against the property by several contractors (plumbing, flooring, contracting companies), some just from about a month ago.

I was initially going to consult a lawyer about it, but now I'm thinking to just stay the hell far away. Anybody else ever seen that before?

Just wondering is the seller the first owner or there are several owner before him? Was it purchase pre sale?

Seller is apparently affiliated with the developer.
She said there is a listing where they tried to sell it as a presale but the deal fell through initially. The suite inside is just being finished up, so little finishing touches so nobody has lived there before.

A lot of the liens are from about a month ago