exactly, its due to the overpopulation and lack of supply and yet the govt puts the burden on landlords. There will be less landlords that will own properties for investment purposes in the future, which means less supply of rental units, hence the rent rise will accelerate (so i dont know why tenants are cheering on any measures against the landlords_. The gov't is turning the society into a socialist market environment, and everyone will be worst off at the end. People that can't afford housing will suffer from higher rents, those with some wealth would no longer preserve their wealth in Canada. Please don't say Canada is a market driven society, its not. Let's be real. The result of this: Canadians will become poorer and poorer.
I don't understand how they mail your property tax bill to your address then claim it is a vacant property.....if they think it is vacant then why are they mailing you their bill there? Incompetent politicians from all levels and all parties.
@@CW-rx2js This had to have been applied to my property tax. I don't pay utilities so I don't get a utility bill...they are included in my maintenance fees. Pretty sure it is the proposed rain tax that they want to put on your utility bill. However either way your utility bill and and your property tax bills are sent to your address. Doesn't make any sense why they would send a bill to a vacant home. Also if it is on your utility bill then it would make even less sense. They can see utilities being used at the property. Why would they believe a place is vacant if someone is clearly there using the utilities.
I know somebody who had a homeless person set up camp in their back yard. Not on a weird area that’s “technically the city’s” but HIS ACTUAL BACK YARD. He called the cops, cops came and told him “you should feel LUCKY that he’s mentally stable at least. Also, we can’t issue an eviction until 3 months later.” He replied “well…. He’s in my backyard? I can’t do anything? What if he was in my front yard?!?!”. Cops said “Wouldn’t make a difference, still need to wait 3 months to evict”. People, I don’t think you understand the GRAVITY of this statement. YOUR PROPERTY IS NOT YOUR PROPERTY. YOU HAVE ZERO RIGHTS TO YOUR OWN MAIN RESIDENCE/PROPERTY. Essentially COMMUNISM. and these people live in good area with high property taxes as well. That’s what they get in return! LOL! His little kids can’t even play in the backyard anymore, THANKS TORONTO!!! 😂
Someone I knew had squatters in their house. They literally could do nothing because the squatters could take them to court for harrassment. Cops did absolutely 0. And yet Trudeau wants to protect renters. Lol
You were good until you called this "communism". Nothing about any of this is communism, and when the people running the show see the peasants cry about communism they just laugh and continue screwing us all.
We have lots of incompetent individuals in the government office. There should be other way to check if the home is vacant. Why bother homeowners who pay their staggering property tax? The City became "money grab". Totally brainless idea! They didn't even think if tax payers can accommodate this kind of expenses.
I don't understand how this "vacant house" bylaw could possibly be legal. It destroys the very notion and principle of what the ownership and private property is.
Nothing went wrong. This was intentional by the city. They could have sent notifications. They deliberately didn't do so this year. I warned every home owner I know, knowing this would be widespread. City of morons.
As long as you live on their land, use their money, their banks, eat their food, you belong to them, everything of yours belongs to them you don't own anything.
Just try not paying your city taxes and find out if you really own your house. Ask those home owners who have been expropriated if they actually owned their houses.
@@unrealshrimp Everything is nationalized - and it becomes the Russia after the October revolution. How easy and fast it is to destroy everything and how hard, if not impossible, it is to restore and rebuild.
They don't . Manny houses in Toronto are empty owned by the cartels from Mexico. During the day they are in the front of the house and in the evening they leave to go home.
If there are recorded usage of utilities then that is enough proof that someone is living there. Homeowners should file a class action lawsuit against the city.
Wasn't this supposed to be for deterring rich foreigners from buying up housing and leaving it empty? If a house is sitting there vacant, rotting away and keeping young buyers from owning property, makes sense. But I'd much rather ban foreign ownership outright.
This is totally fraud by the governement. Here in BC I filed a claim on Dec 15 2023 under the Empty Homes Tax provison then had to file another one on Feb 15 this year under Speculation and Vacancy Tax. It feels like this is a money grab more than anything else now.
kleung: "more than anything else"? It is NOTHING but a money grab. Notice that they changed the bylaw about allowing rooming houses? The day is coming soon when the police are instructed to come to a home owner, bring a couple of homeless and say from now on they will live in this house because you have too much square footage all for yourself.
It is jungle rule in Canada. My internet bills and electric bills show that I live in my house. I pay CRA using my home address. Law and order is blind.
There should be a law for wasting people's time and a right to sue for your average hourly income, wages lost, plus expenses such as transportation, legal etc.
Because the good of society in general trumps your individual property rights when it comes to houses that are not your primary residence. It's 2024, learn what's going on with society
Because Housing is a Human Right under Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and under Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and we need to exercise those rights.
Why is it vacant if it's a livable property? In Toronto, of all places? During a housing shortage? Look at all the houses I can afford meanwhile others are struggling to pay rent just to get by. Pay up or stop buying and not using.
@@lynb1022 your quality of life only relies on yourself and your family sometimes. No free lunch, your benefits from the government are coming from other peoples hardworking. You know how many people in Toronto are homeless? Please bring some of them to your house to exercise their rights.
@@vincentcai1847 no one's suggesting a "free lunch". On the contrary, one of the reasons we have so many homeless now is because *tenants paid their freeloading landlords' mortgages* until they were finally rent-increased out. Landlords will extract wealth from their tenants until there is nothing left to extract. Homes are for PEOPLE, and housing is a human right, not an "investment asset". If it was up to me people who buy *residential property* and just let it sit vacant should have those properties expropriated, not just taxed.
Canadians don't seem to understand how grossly violated their rights are. You can't leave your home empty, that you own? This would never be tolerated in the USA, the courts could immediately strike it down.
OECD estimated in 2021 that USA had over 14 million vacant properties (and 1.3 million in Canada, incidentally). Many USA vacant properties are being taken over by squatters now. Things will get ugly.
@@rboddington I don't know that they do. I know that many USA DoJ/AGs are implementing other measures to counter their own financialized housing crisis, which is nowhere near as bad as Canada's (their median incomes are higher and median home prices are still under $500K). No sympathy for land-hoarders who buy multiple properties and then just leave them vacant. Homes are for people, not "investors".
So think it's fine that Wall Street investment firms buy up hundreds of new homes in the US and then charge super high rent for those houses and all during a housing crisis?! People buying "investment" properties for dubious airbnb listings need to be stopped, they are screwing up the housing market and pricing regular workers out. This vacant housing tax is brilliant, it means that in large cities where house prices have sky-rocketed, along with rents, vacant homes will not be tolerated(unless you pay the tax.)
The city mails out bills for hydro, water and property tax to every household…prior to the due date. But NOT vacant home tax…instead the clowns at city call decide the put a reminder in small print, at the bottom of the property tax bill. Then anyone who didn’t read the small print is automatically charged a $21 late fee and their house assumed vacant therefore VHT owing with the first instalment due in 6 weeks.
@@Kr0nicDragon yup… They mention VHT in the small print, with our first property tax bill. Had they made it more obvious by providing the total amount, VHT payment schedule, deadline to declare and the link to the portal…they would have saved themselves a lot of headache. To make matters worse, once the deadline passes there’s no way to declare…not even one day late subject to late fee. The home is automatically declared vacant and VHT taxes applied. However this doesn’t help all the people who declared ahead of the deadline and we’re still hit with VHT.
@@CantHandleThisCanYa they ddn't send anything...no notice of payment, no declaration reminder nothing. And not all of us live on the property, heck we don't even live in Toronto to follow local news. Tenants may be misplacing things for all you know
@@CantHandleThisCanYa Some people just like to argue. Seriously. You are defending this? Has it occurred to you that this tax is just wrong to begin with? Mike is 100% right.
What we as canadians need to do is start speaking up to this crap. they've been making these excuses agian and agian with NO change. the $$ just gets transferred over to another bill that they introduce the next week. This needs to STOP.
@@samadams7224 "Under the *vacant home tax bylaw* , owners are required to declare occupancy status of their properties every year." - CBC (Apr. 4, 2024)
@@samadams7224 "Effective January 1, 2023, the City of Toronto and the City of Ottawa both passed *bylaws* to introduce a new tax for vacant homes/units." - Sorbara Law (Feb. 2, 2023)
I cant believe how Canadians are putting up with all this. As bad as USA is, something like this would never fly. If you own a home but it's empty, you have to pay a tax? Like, what????
No ideda on this but i expect it is to cut down on people owning multiple homes that are actually undeclared rental units where tenants pay cash to avoid taxes.
Housing is a Human Right under Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and under Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), not an "investment asset" for land-hoarding parasites to sit on while the homeless population grows.
And you live in a society that is democratic, if we all vote that your house can only be two stories in height then that's the way it is, deal with it. Or leave that society. There is no excuse for vacant houses in mega cities like Toronto, and if you want to own one then pay the tax.
It is up to you what you do with it. Since you are not living in the house it is not a home. While the country is in a housing shortage. So should be taxed accordingly. It is not the whole problem but it is part of it.
This is a thing because we have a housing crisis that stems from people owning multiple homes that they don't live in. Try and keep up with what's actually going on in reality, I know it's difficult when you only have three brain cells to rub together.
Large investment companies are buying up hundreds of newly built houses just to take them off the market; by limiting the supply they force the prices of all houses up into the stratosphere. Some of these investors rent the houses on airbnb, others just offer the houses for rent but they charge a fortune for the rent; they can do this because they are collectively buying up ALL the new housing. It's the latest FU to poor people and "get rich quick" scheme by the ultra rich. So now the city of Toronto is taxing people if they leave their houses vacant. This policy helps with the housing crisis by preventing companies from owning dozens of vacant houses, and at the very least encourages the companies to lower the rents in order to fill the houses; and it also helps the city reduce it's huge deficit that was left by the previous administration.
It would make sense if the City Utilities worked in partnership with City Revenue, and determine whether or not a house if vacant. If Toronto Hydro can flag excessive use for possible grow-ops, they should be able to flag unusually low usage as possibly vacant. Toronto Water could do the same.
Except how much time a person spends on their property that they legally own and already pay hefty city taxes on is NOT THEIR BUSINESS. This is a violation of RIGHTS in a democratic country and people are arguing about the logistics and ignoring the elephant in the room!!!
@@averagejane09 the utilities already monitor consumption. They provide your history with your most recent bill. They also work with law enforcement to identify potential grow operations. IMO identifying people who are evading VHT is no different. Having 800,000 home owners declare annually is a stupid idea. People who are Trying to evade VHT are going to submit false declaration anyways, so the city needs to rely on audits anyways.
@@mikec3971 OMG...evade VHT?..People again...this tax should not be happening AT ALL. It is government overreach!!!! THAT is the issue. Not the logistics of it. Your rights are being violated sir.
@@averagejane09 what rights are being violated? Nobody is being prevented from buying a home. Nobody being prevented from buying multiple homes. A lot of cities and countries around the world have VHT, all for the same purpose. I hate taxes and I think Canadians are taxed waaay too much. But the reality is, if you want to live tax free, move to a little island off the grid, give up the comforts of infrastructure and stay away from civilization.
@@mikec3971 That is one extreme to the other. We all pay LOTS of taxes and I pay mine. I see the benefit to paying some taxes. I never said anything about being tax free. But, I would like to be free of government micromanaging and control over every little thing. This is boiling the frog. And as you pointed out we are taxed waaaay too much already. But, there should be plenty to cover things. This is planet earth. It should not be this expensive to live here. To exist. People are losing the one house they have. Where does the line get drawn? And if a person owns a property and ALREADY pays those hefty taxes how much time a person spends on that property is not the government's business. This is control and micromanaging. I can't afford it, but I believe people should have the right to invest in more than one property without the additional taxes upon taxes... under the guise of housing crisis...because so few could do this anyway that I don't believe that is it. I really don't buy that. We have lots of space in this country and if we do have a housing crisis, one has to wonder why. The freedoms and rights I am worried about are where do we draw the line in terms of control. If they wanted to solve the housing crisis, I am not convinced this is the way.
There is no need to own a home in a city that you don't live in. If you don't like it, don't own a home in the city that you don't live in. That's the law.
if people have multiple house, it is reasonable to claim annually. For family who only has one living place, it doesn't make sense to claim every year.
Who voted for that mayor, she laughed at people’s struggle of car thieves and now housing? We got a PM evading inquiries, a financial minister who has zero ideas on what’s going on, a MP stuck in foreign interference scandal and now a mayor with a distasteful sense of humor? What could go wrong now???
If you leave canada over 6 months, It will affect your Ohip and your Tax. No retiree is leaving for more than 6 months out of the year unless they want complications with either. So no, you can't leave for just over 6 months.
Canadians should just pay the bill. Canadians always complain about not being able to afford anything, if they paid the 10k bill then we wouldn’t be here in the first place. PAY YOUR BILLS, OLIVA SHOULDNT APOLOGIZE FOR PEOPLE NOT PAYING THEIR BILLS
Honestly, I am tired of people saying that. Bull. Nobody voted for this. This was a surprise. And it is municipal government, not Feds....this time...why would the people have thought any government would do this? It is just that nobody is surprised anymore. They seem to all be crooked. Who would be the best choice? eh?
I admired her accepting the responsibility of the glitch system but in the end she said she meet this mess. She has been there a while now and it’s her responsibility to fix the mess before, right? I believe that amending Landlord and Tenant Act ought to be her first step. Hiring more staff to get the backlog of cases and implement it where after an evocation was ordered. That ought to be then trigger the enforcement to the sheriff etc. implement rent control again. No landlord can increase a new tenant to whatever they want it ought to be an increase as per the % set for rent increase not market value etc. when a tenant moves out the new tenant rent increase is too high it’s not working because rent can’t keep increasing for new tenants. That’s where it goes out of range for poor people who is on a fix income. Yes Chang do that and it will help with the homelessness. Well I think it’s a start to fixing out of reach vacant apartment etc.
....or...she could stop the tax altogether because people are already paying hefty taxes on property they legally own and this is a violation of democratic rights! This is big brother control. It is not their business how much time you spend on property you own. Jeez. Why are people trying to negotiate the logistics of this? A country of sheep.
@@averagejane09 Completely agree with you. The whole definition of what constitutes private property becomes fuzzy. But this is a cornerstone of the economy that is able to protect the investment and produce something. What's the next step? Looking at how much square footage each person has in the privately owned property and taxing what the authorities deem too much?
@@verar5844 Yes. And in this economy, how many people now could afford to own one property they don't live in let alone multiple? What is the demographic being targeted here? I don't buy any of this.
Why? Because she's helping with the housing crisis and at the same time helping to lower Toronto's huge deficit that was racked up by the previous administration? This is good policy, it was poorly ruled out and the administration of it needs to improve, but other than that it's just good policy. Next they should add a vacant rental unit tax if the unit is not rented for at least 9 month's out of the year.
no because she is incompetent. Sad thing is all our politicians from all parties and all levels are incompetent. But at least some of them don't pi$$ our money away then come back for more thinking we have endless deep pockets. @@tidbit1877
@@verar5844 The rich have near infinite wealth, so we can go on "eating" them forever and maintain our beautiful country and all it's infrastructure and lovely public services.
Oh poor Torontonians complaining about higher taxes....fill the homes with people and won't have to worry about this.....seriously the whining coming out of that city is unbearable
Oh, some property owners are inconvenienced. How tragic. How about they be grateful they actually own something and won't be rent-serfs or homeless for the rest of their lives?
Yea as a home “owner” I don’t own jack squat, if you don’t pay the taxes they just take your home away. It’s more like pay a few hundred grand so you can pay a smaller rent fee.
Kinda missing the elephant in the room. The bigger issue is not inconvenience. It is government control. It is not their business how much time you spend on a property you legally own and already pay hefty taxes on. This is the bigger picture for ALL OF US and we are arguing logistics. Totally missing it.
No, the ones who are getting harassed when they live in their home. Nobody should have to declare that they live in their home every year. This is absurd.
@@peej91 NO. It is happening everywhere. I got it..I live in my home.....everyone I know got it and they all live in their homes...everyone was like....what the heck is this?
I don't feel bad about this. Why the fk do you have an empty house if there's a housing crisis? I think this is too soft. the property should be seized. It's like any deadline. don't ignore it.
why should the govt dictate to people what to do with their property. If someone has property that is vacant that is their business. It is not up to the individual to provide basic housing for people using their personal property. It is the responsibility of the govt to provide basic housing. It is their responsibility to build more low income housing etc. The govt is the one that created the problem and now they are blaming individuals for it (and you are swallowing that lie).
@@pacman3556 I don't care. Act like one of the foreign buyers who will buy up properties than leave them empty, that's your problem not anyone elses. Pay up for buying a property that otherwise could have been owned by a family who would actually live in the thing. Create government housing? That can just as easily be bought up and left empty too. By 'investers'. If someone can afford two houses (not just a house and small cabin in the woods) they deserve to pay for something being left empty. If they don't want to pay more they shouldn't have bought it in the first place. I hope this makes people think twice about 'investing'
It is sort of dumb. People are saying it's an NDP thing though. This was by that cheating mayor John Tory, he's conservative. If I hated you I'd suggest keep voting liberals or conservatives. I'll be fine but I got time to watch people and enjoy their mistakes.
The problem is city of toronto hire people with no education to do the job so no wonder ther is a mess that cost taxpayers money
Can you say race-based hiring quotas? Or as they say in the US, affirmative action? SMH
Agree 1000%
exactly, its due to the overpopulation and lack of supply and yet the govt puts the burden on landlords. There will be less landlords that will own properties for investment purposes in the future, which means less supply of rental units, hence the rent rise will accelerate (so i dont know why tenants are cheering on any measures against the landlords_. The gov't is turning the society into a socialist market environment, and everyone will be worst off at the end. People that can't afford housing will suffer from higher rents, those with some wealth would no longer preserve their wealth in Canada. Please don't say Canada is a market driven society, its not. Let's be real. The result of this: Canadians will become poorer and poorer.
Maybe they should just pay the 10k to the city. Thats not a lot of money for someone who owns a house
Or may be it's because tredouce sent billions to Ukraine and isrealie
I don't understand how they mail your property tax bill to your address then claim it is a vacant property.....if they think it is vacant then why are they mailing you their bill there? Incompetent politicians from all levels and all parties.
It's not property tax but utility bills that this is applicable to. Everyone has to pay property tax, vacant or not.
@@CW-rx2js This had to have been applied to my property tax. I don't pay utilities so I don't get a utility bill...they are included in my maintenance fees. Pretty sure it is the proposed rain tax that they want to put on your utility bill. However either way your utility bill and and your property tax bills are sent to your address. Doesn't make any sense why they would send a bill to a vacant home. Also if it is on your utility bill then it would make even less sense. They can see utilities being used at the property. Why would they believe a place is vacant if someone is clearly there using the utilities.
I believe they did it deliberately to mislead homeowners.
It shows a system that's so eager to take money out of the pockets of Canadians.
Tell me about it.
I know somebody who had a homeless person set up camp in their back yard. Not on a weird area that’s “technically the city’s” but HIS ACTUAL BACK YARD.
He called the cops, cops came and told him “you should feel LUCKY that he’s mentally stable at least. Also, we can’t issue an eviction until 3 months later.”
He replied “well…. He’s in my backyard? I can’t do anything? What if he was in my front yard?!?!”.
Cops said “Wouldn’t make a difference, still need to wait 3 months to evict”.
People, I don’t think you understand the GRAVITY of this statement. YOUR PROPERTY IS NOT YOUR PROPERTY. YOU HAVE ZERO RIGHTS TO YOUR OWN MAIN RESIDENCE/PROPERTY.
Essentially COMMUNISM.
and these people live in good area with high property taxes as well. That’s what they get in return! LOL!
His little kids can’t even play in the backyard anymore, THANKS TORONTO!!! 😂
Well you people keep putting Trudy in parliament you reap what you so
He needs to hire a Sopranos character to 'talk sense' into the homeless person.
well if you don't pay your property taxes then make the city do something them.
Someone I knew had squatters in their house. They literally could do nothing because the squatters could take them to court for harrassment. Cops did absolutely 0.
And yet Trudeau wants to protect renters. Lol
You were good until you called this "communism". Nothing about any of this is communism, and when the people running the show see the peasants cry about communism they just laugh and continue screwing us all.
Cartels now have empty houses for over year in Toronto Canada. West mount av. and differing st is one of them.
And this is the country Canada we live in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have lots of incompetent individuals in the government office. There should be other way to check if the home is vacant. Why bother homeowners who pay their staggering property tax? The City became "money grab". Totally brainless idea! They didn't even think if tax payers can accommodate this kind of expenses.
I don't understand how this "vacant house" bylaw could possibly be legal. It destroys the very notion and principle of what the ownership and private property is.
With the price of food skyrocketing, and gas, they don't send letters out to people to register is inexcusable
Yeah, the money saved in paper costs could feed small families!
Nothing went wrong. This was intentional by the city. They could have sent notifications. They deliberately didn't do so this year. I warned every home owner I know, knowing this would be widespread.
City of morons.
They did send a notifications (at least 2). I filled out the online form and still got this thing.
They have so many ways generating more revenues for the City. Our burden sadly. Torontonians must do something.
The city has no business with my home, vacant or not.
As long as you live on their land, use their money, their banks, eat their food, you belong to them, everything of yours belongs to them you don't own anything.
@@unrealshrimp this is true. nobody actually owns their home
Just try not paying your city taxes and find out if you really own your house. Ask those home owners who have been expropriated if they actually owned their houses.
@@v.j.3029 I own several homes in Ontario and own land on Vancouver island, you don't need to tell me about taxes.
@@unrealshrimp Everything is nationalized - and it becomes the Russia after the October revolution. How easy and fast it is to destroy everything and how hard, if not impossible, it is to restore and rebuild.
How do they know your home is actually empty?
I believe someone goes and looks.
They assume it's vacant and it's on you to prove you live in it. It's the system of assuming you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.
They don't . Manny houses in Toronto are empty owned by the cartels from Mexico. During the day they are in the front of the house and in the evening they leave to go home.
If there are recorded usage of utilities then that is enough proof that someone is living there. Homeowners should file a class action lawsuit against the city.
Bettery yet, vote out Olivia Chow for incompetence.
Wasn't this supposed to be for deterring rich foreigners from buying up housing and leaving it empty? If a house is sitting there vacant, rotting away and keeping young buyers from owning property, makes sense. But I'd much rather ban foreign ownership outright.
Yup. Instead Chow and her team fckd up and have managed to hit about 150,000 people who are living in their homes with VHT and late fees. Lol
This is stealing from Canadian citizens seniors who have just inherited a home.
You get what you vote for
I hope you realize this was introduced by John Tory 😂
@@Insomniacdrop not the policy but the mismanagement
@@glintrhmj??? It was his policy and management and it’s just now coming into effect.
@@Insomniacdrop so is John Tory managing this or Olivia Chow im confused?
@@glintrhmj It was him who set this all up… not saying chow is any better but just saying it would be hypocritical to say she is responsible for this.
This is totally fraud by the governement. Here in BC I filed a claim on Dec 15 2023 under the Empty Homes Tax provison then had to file another one on Feb 15 this year under Speculation and Vacancy Tax. It feels like this is a money grab more than anything else now.
If you get a wealthy person, they may just pay it. These things seem to be happening the more broke the government gets…
kleung: "more than anything else"? It is NOTHING but a money grab. Notice that they changed the bylaw about allowing rooming houses? The day is coming soon when the police are instructed to come to a home owner, bring a couple of homeless and say from now on they will live in this house because you have too much square footage all for yourself.
bingo.
Of course it is.
Everywhere we look and turn someone is ripping us off. Yay trudumb. Canada isn't going to survive another year under his thumb! 🤬🤬🤬🤬
Why can't you sell your vacant home?
The only thing that needs to be revamped is the government. They know exactly who lives where and when.
It is jungle rule in Canada. My internet bills and electric bills show that I live in my house. I pay CRA using my home address. Law and order is blind.
The fabulous incompetency
Elections have consequences. (See: Canadas last 3 elections)
First vacant home. Next will probably be vacant room.
How difficult could it be to roll a program that reads forms filled out online? This is so moronic.
Too much government.
It's stupid. Now people have to pay an extra tax just because they choose to leave Canada for the winter. That should be no ones business.
It is micromanaging...control.
Rich people always cry the most
winter is not more than 6 months.
normally vacancy tax only applies after the house is empty for over a year
There should be a law for wasting people's time and a right to sue for your average hourly income, wages lost, plus expenses such as transportation, legal etc.
The property owners have every right about how to handle their own properties, how can a government tax it when you want to keep it vacant?
Because the good of society in general trumps your individual property rights when it comes to houses that are not your primary residence. It's 2024, learn what's going on with society
Because Housing is a Human Right under Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and under Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and we need to exercise those rights.
Why is it vacant if it's a livable property? In Toronto, of all places? During a housing shortage?
Look at all the houses I can afford meanwhile others are struggling to pay rent just to get by. Pay up or stop buying and not using.
@@lynb1022 your quality of life only relies on yourself and your family sometimes. No free lunch, your benefits from the government are coming from other peoples hardworking. You know how many people in Toronto are homeless? Please bring some of them to your house to exercise their rights.
@@vincentcai1847 no one's suggesting a "free lunch". On the contrary, one of the reasons we have so many homeless now is because *tenants paid their freeloading landlords' mortgages* until they were finally rent-increased out. Landlords will extract wealth from their tenants until there is nothing left to extract. Homes are for PEOPLE, and housing is a human right, not an "investment asset". If it was up to me people who buy *residential property* and just let it sit vacant should have those properties expropriated, not just taxed.
Voted for a inefficient mayor
Canadians don't seem to understand how grossly violated their rights are. You can't leave your home empty, that you own? This would never be tolerated in the USA, the courts could immediately strike it down.
OECD estimated in 2021 that USA had over 14 million vacant properties (and 1.3 million in Canada, incidentally). Many USA vacant properties are being taken over by squatters now. Things will get ugly.
@@lynb1022 Yes, but where in the USA do homeowners have to check in with the state to prove they are living in the home they own?
@@rboddington I don't know that they do. I know that many USA DoJ/AGs are implementing other measures to counter their own financialized housing crisis, which is nowhere near as bad as Canada's (their median incomes are higher and median home prices are still under $500K). No sympathy for land-hoarders who buy multiple properties and then just leave them vacant. Homes are for people, not "investors".
So think it's fine that Wall Street investment firms buy up hundreds of new homes in the US and then charge super high rent for those houses and all during a housing crisis?! People buying "investment" properties for dubious airbnb listings need to be stopped, they are screwing up the housing market and pricing regular workers out. This vacant housing tax is brilliant, it means that in large cities where house prices have sky-rocketed, along with rents, vacant homes will not be tolerated(unless you pay the tax.)
I know!!!! I can't believe they're so docile about it....
I loved Olivia Chow in her acting debut in Full Metal Jacket 😂
Jack Layton could speak English and French and every night he ate Chinese
Chow need to remove the rain tax ... else we will remove her from her position
The city mails out bills for hydro, water and property tax to every household…prior to the due date. But NOT vacant home tax…instead the clowns at city call decide the put a reminder in small print, at the bottom of the property tax bill.
Then anyone who didn’t read the small print is automatically charged a $21 late fee and their house assumed vacant therefore VHT owing with the first instalment due in 6 weeks.
Ok and...? the law was passed over two years ago, property owners have had plenty of time to perform their due diligence in complying with the law.
Last year they sent out mail, a yellow piece of paper with all the info on it to declare occupancy, nothing this year.....
@@Kr0nicDragon yup…
They mention VHT in the small print, with our first property tax bill. Had they made it more obvious by providing the total amount, VHT payment schedule, deadline to declare and the link to the portal…they would have saved themselves a lot of headache.
To make matters worse, once the deadline passes there’s no way to declare…not even one day late subject to late fee. The home is automatically declared vacant and VHT taxes applied.
However this doesn’t help all the people who declared ahead of the deadline and we’re still hit with VHT.
@@CantHandleThisCanYa they ddn't send anything...no notice of payment, no declaration reminder nothing. And not all of us live on the property, heck we don't even live in Toronto to follow local news.
Tenants may be misplacing things for all you know
@@CantHandleThisCanYa Some people just like to argue. Seriously. You are defending this? Has it occurred to you that this tax is just wrong to begin with? Mike is 100% right.
Elect a "tax everything" mayor, this is the result.
What we as canadians need to do is start speaking up to this crap. they've been making these excuses agian and agian with NO change. the $$ just gets transferred over to another bill that they introduce the next week. This needs to STOP.
Gangster move
This law needs to be challenged in court. The government cannot force you to do anything on private property.
It's a bylaw, not law.
@@KP-xi4bj It's from the federal government. google Underused Housing Tax.
@Stevean-zo8zk Can the federal govt force Ford to make more cars?
@@samadams7224 "Under the *vacant home tax bylaw* , owners are required to declare occupancy status of their properties every year." - CBC (Apr. 4, 2024)
@@samadams7224 "Effective January 1, 2023, the City of Toronto and the City of Ottawa both passed *bylaws* to introduce a new tax for vacant homes/units." - Sorbara Law (Feb. 2, 2023)
I cant believe how Canadians are putting up with all this. As bad as USA is, something like this would never fly. If you own a home but it's empty, you have to pay a tax? Like, what????
No ideda on this but i expect it is to cut down on people owning multiple homes that are actually undeclared rental units where tenants pay cash to avoid taxes.
@@joeyt8256 How is filling out a form declaring you live there, even when you don't going to help that?
10,000 is not omg its a heart attack
I don't have a vacant home but if I did I would definitely fight this in the courts.
I own it , it's up to me what I do with it!
Agreed, they are barking up the wrong tree here. Completely ridiculous tax grab.
Housing is a Human Right under Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and under Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), not an "investment asset" for land-hoarding parasites to sit on while the homeless population grows.
And you live in a society that is democratic, if we all vote that your house can only be two stories in height then that's the way it is, deal with it. Or leave that society. There is no excuse for vacant houses in mega cities like Toronto, and if you want to own one then pay the tax.
@tidbit1877
If you want communism, move to Russia.
Just because some politicians create a bylaw doesn't make it right!
It is up to you what you do with it. Since you are not living in the house it is not a home. While the country is in a housing shortage. So should be taxed accordingly. It is not the whole problem but it is part of it.
another big city tax grab
It's not acceptable how we rolled out this program, but we fully support it
Even if you choose to have your property vacant, or maybe you need to go overseas to help family. Like WHY is this even a thing.
This is a thing because we have a housing crisis that stems from people owning multiple homes that they don't live in. Try and keep up with what's actually going on in reality, I know it's difficult when you only have three brain cells to rub together.
Large investment companies are buying up hundreds of newly built houses just to take them off the market; by limiting the supply they force the prices of all houses up into the stratosphere. Some of these investors rent the houses on airbnb, others just offer the houses for rent but they charge a fortune for the rent; they can do this because they are collectively buying up ALL the new housing. It's the latest FU to poor people and "get rich quick" scheme by the ultra rich. So now the city of Toronto is taxing people if they leave their houses vacant. This policy helps with the housing crisis by preventing companies from owning dozens of vacant houses, and at the very least encourages the companies to lower the rents in order to fill the houses; and it also helps the city reduce it's huge deficit that was left by the previous administration.
If you ask hmmm seems like fraud
What’s considered occupied? A house sitter?
Read the law.
@@CantHandleThisCanYaYou could have just said "I don't know.".
@@CantHandleThisCanYa I’m waiting for more intelligent answers
Olivia chow needs to resign.
Why are people voting for politicians to increase tax on them??
ToronRonians can afford higher taxes keep voting for it.
Chow will blame others
This is the responsibility of our mayor .Don’t try to not to known
It would make sense if the City Utilities worked in partnership with City Revenue, and determine whether or not a house if vacant.
If Toronto Hydro can flag excessive use for possible grow-ops, they should be able to flag unusually low usage as possibly vacant. Toronto Water could do the same.
Except how much time a person spends on their property that they legally own and already pay hefty city taxes on is NOT THEIR BUSINESS. This is a violation of RIGHTS in a democratic country and people are arguing about the logistics and ignoring the elephant in the room!!!
@@averagejane09 the utilities already monitor consumption. They provide your history with your most recent bill. They also work with law enforcement to identify potential grow operations. IMO identifying people who are evading VHT is no different.
Having 800,000 home owners declare annually is a stupid idea. People who are
Trying to evade VHT are going to submit false declaration anyways, so the city needs to rely on audits anyways.
@@mikec3971 OMG...evade VHT?..People again...this tax should not be happening AT ALL. It is government overreach!!!! THAT is the issue. Not the logistics of it. Your rights are being violated sir.
@@averagejane09 what rights are being violated?
Nobody is being prevented from buying a home. Nobody being prevented from buying multiple homes.
A lot of cities and countries around the world have VHT, all for the same purpose.
I hate taxes and I think Canadians are taxed waaay too much. But the reality is, if you want to live tax free, move to a little island off the grid, give up the comforts of infrastructure and stay away from civilization.
@@mikec3971 That is one extreme to the other. We all pay LOTS of taxes and I pay mine. I see the benefit to paying some taxes. I never said anything about being tax free. But, I would like to be free of government micromanaging and control over every little thing. This is boiling the frog. And as you pointed out we are taxed waaaay too much already. But, there should be plenty to cover things. This is planet earth. It should not be this expensive to live here. To exist. People are losing the one house they have. Where does the line get drawn? And if a person owns a property and ALREADY pays those hefty taxes how much time a person spends on that property is not the government's business. This is control and micromanaging. I can't afford it, but I believe people should have the right to invest in more than one property without the additional taxes upon taxes... under the guise of housing crisis...because so few could do this anyway that I don't believe that is it. I really don't buy that. We have lots of space in this country and if we do have a housing crisis, one has to wonder why. The freedoms and rights I am worried about are where do we draw the line in terms of control. If they wanted to solve the housing crisis, I am not convinced this is the way.
Welcome to Canada !
People use to call it the land of milk and honey now it's the land of so many taxes.
What an evil tax, anyone who supports such a thing is an enemy of decent people.
Wow, a politician talking responsibility for something. She earned a little more respect from me.
scam tax
There is no need to own a home in a city that you don't live in. If you don't like it, don't own a home in the city that you don't live in. That's the law.
Canadian Systems = are worst (such as Court, Lawyers, Housing, City).
No Where To Call = HELP.................
Oh I went on vacation for 10 months...please don't take my BMW and my Mercedes I don't think I can buy another 10 cars
So stupid, you buy the house and then you can’t even leave your house vacant?
You elected a drama teacher to run the country. How did you think that was going to turn out?
This vacant home tax isn't even close to being a federal issue. Stay on topic.
Accidents happen, but the government doesn’t care if we make mistakes or have minimal income.
With construction for homes in all counties is the most expensive thing to improve the people living in these areas.
It is a fine. Many people are not in the real estate business and can not rent out their home if it is joint property if they wish too.
if people have multiple house, it is reasonable to claim annually. For family who only has one living place, it doesn't make sense to claim every year.
I think my biggest problem is even if i ever had a space that was vacant i have low trust in tenant and renter relationships and the housing system
You call that the government's move for debt recovery.
Who voted for that mayor, she laughed at people’s struggle of car thieves and now housing? We got a PM evading inquiries, a financial minister who has zero ideas on what’s going on, a MP stuck in foreign interference scandal and now a mayor with a distasteful sense of humor? What could go wrong now???
So, if you are a retiree and spend a little over 6+ months somewhere down south a year (going back and force) , you have to pay 1% vacant tax?
If you leave canada over 6 months, It will affect your Ohip and your Tax. No retiree is leaving for more than 6 months out of the year unless they want complications with either. So no, you can't leave for just over 6 months.
What a waste of time and money. They can't run anything right.
Canadians should just pay the bill. Canadians always complain about not being able to afford anything, if they paid the 10k bill then we wouldn’t be here in the first place. PAY YOUR BILLS, OLIVA SHOULDNT APOLOGIZE FOR PEOPLE NOT PAYING THEIR BILLS
What you voted for
people voted for John Tory's vacancy tax?
@@pacman3556 mid management of current government regardless of the initiatives
so your comment has nothing to do with this video. People don't vote for the bureaucracy that runs the programs @@sangtaeminam
Honestly, I am tired of people saying that. Bull. Nobody voted for this. This was a surprise. And it is municipal government, not Feds....this time...why would the people have thought any government would do this? It is just that nobody is surprised anymore. They seem to all be crooked. Who would be the best choice? eh?
Homes in all countries is amazing 🤩
Congratulations Canada.....vote woke go broke!
scam
why do we have to do this every year
Should hot have to do it at all.
Was this for all home owners or just ones who own a vacant property?
I admired her accepting the responsibility of the glitch system but in the end she said she meet this mess. She has been there a while now and it’s her responsibility to fix the mess before, right?
I believe that amending Landlord and Tenant Act ought to be her first step. Hiring more staff to get the backlog of cases and implement it where after an evocation was ordered. That ought to be then trigger the enforcement to the sheriff etc. implement rent control again. No landlord can increase a new tenant to whatever they want it ought to be an increase as per the % set for rent increase not market value etc. when a tenant moves out the new tenant rent increase is too high it’s not working because rent can’t keep increasing for new tenants. That’s where it goes out of range for poor people who is on a fix income. Yes Chang do that and it will help with the homelessness. Well I think it’s a start to fixing out of reach vacant apartment etc.
....or...she could stop the tax altogether because people are already paying hefty taxes on property they legally own and this is a violation of democratic rights! This is big brother control. It is not their business how much time you spend on property you own. Jeez. Why are people trying to negotiate the logistics of this? A country of sheep.
@@averagejane09 Completely agree with you. The whole definition of what constitutes private property becomes fuzzy. But this is a cornerstone of the economy that is able to protect the investment and produce something. What's the next step? Looking at how much square footage each person has in the privately owned property and taxing what the authorities deem too much?
@@verar5844 Yes. And in this economy, how many people now could afford to own one property they don't live in let alone multiple? What is the demographic being targeted here? I don't buy any of this.
Chow needs to go
Why? Because she's helping with the housing crisis and at the same time helping to lower Toronto's huge deficit that was racked up by the previous administration? This is good policy, it was poorly ruled out and the administration of it needs to improve, but other than that it's just good policy.
Next they should add a vacant rental unit tax if the unit is not rented for at least 9 month's out of the year.
no because she is incompetent. Sad thing is all our politicians from all parties and all levels are incompetent. But at least some of them don't pi$$ our money away then come back for more thinking we have endless deep pockets. @@tidbit1877
its ok the fire department will check every crevice of every dwelling
Double the empty home tax
People own their properties and have the right to do what they want with them, Stalin.
Triple it and call it a day
Should have hired a CPA
Elect a communist, expect the absolute worst …….now stop complaining, you voted for this!
The NDP mayor soaking citizens…..wow.
NDP gov ....what can go wrong.
You get what you vote for. Good job Toronto…keep up the good work. There is more money for the elected officials to scam.
Nicely done folks.
Lol, that's what you get for overpaying contractors.
Too bad, so sad.
EⒶt the rích.
Get a 🙄
Who will you eat after all the rich have been eaten?
@@verar5844 The rich have near infinite wealth, so we can go on "eating" them forever and maintain our beautiful country and all it's infrastructure and lovely public services.
@@fkb247 go away bot
Woah 😮
Dr phil is back with his own network. News wont tell you.. Merit st media! 🎉
Land of taxes & free criminals
So sad rich people getting a 1% tax how cruel.....
She sucks!! Bad mayor
Oh poor Torontonians complaining about higher taxes....fill the homes with people and won't have to worry about this.....seriously the whining coming out of that city is unbearable
lol incompetence
DEI
olivia chow loves y'll
you get what you voted for LOL
Wow rich people are angry boohoo
Oh, some property owners are inconvenienced. How tragic. How about they be grateful they actually own something and won't be rent-serfs or homeless for the rest of their lives?
Shoulda worked harder and you could have been a property owner, too.
@@vitaminjtuber Nope the system is rigged, our wages are too low to afford to even live in a rental let alone a house, and that's without a car.
@@vitaminjtuber Ah yes, just work harder argument. Like they weren't working hard..
Yea as a home “owner” I don’t own jack squat, if you don’t pay the taxes they just take your home away. It’s more like pay a few hundred grand so you can pay a smaller rent fee.
Kinda missing the elephant in the room. The bigger issue is not inconvenience. It is government control. It is not their business how much time you spend on a property you legally own and already pay hefty taxes on. This is the bigger picture for ALL OF US and we are arguing logistics. Totally missing it.
Lmao who cares. Obviously the ones who have vacant homes
No, the ones who are getting harassed when they live in their home. Nobody should have to declare that they live in their home every year. This is absurd.
@@averagejane09 how do you know. They were flagged for a reason
@@peej91 NO. It is happening everywhere. I got it..I live in my home.....everyone I know got it and they all live in their homes...everyone was like....what the heck is this?
I don't feel bad about this. Why the fk do you have an empty house if there's a housing crisis? I think this is too soft. the property should be seized. It's like any deadline. don't ignore it.
why should the govt dictate to people what to do with their property. If someone has property that is vacant that is their business. It is not up to the individual to provide basic housing for people using their personal property. It is the responsibility of the govt to provide basic housing. It is their responsibility to build more low income housing etc. The govt is the one that created the problem and now they are blaming individuals for it (and you are swallowing that lie).
@@pacman3556 I don't care. Act like one of the foreign buyers who will buy up properties than leave them empty, that's your problem not anyone elses. Pay up for buying a property that otherwise could have been owned by a family who would actually live in the thing.
Create government housing? That can just as easily be bought up and left empty too. By 'investers'.
If someone can afford two houses (not just a house and small cabin in the woods) they deserve to pay for something being left empty. If they don't want to pay more they shouldn't have bought it in the first place. I hope this makes people think twice about 'investing'
Bought into that huh?
@@pacman3556 It is encouraging to see people can still think and see the issue with this.
It is sort of dumb. People are saying it's an NDP thing though. This was by that cheating mayor John Tory, he's conservative. If I hated you I'd suggest keep voting liberals or conservatives. I'll be fine but I got time to watch people and enjoy their mistakes.
Flip tax to be introduced in ON to curb greedy foreign buyers