Vancouver to teach homeowners to be landlords before empty homes tax is rolled out
Posted December 5, 2016 3:52 pm.
Last Updated December 5, 2016 3:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The City of Vancouver wants owners of empty homes to rent out their properties, so it is making arrangements to teach them how to be landlords.
It has partnered with BC’s professional landlord association to lend a hand before the city’s empty homes tax takes effect.
Owners of empty homes will pay one per cent of the value of their home more in property tax after December 2017.
The hope is the move will push these owners to rent out their places and help bump up the rental vacancy rate. Latest numbers from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation put Vancouver’s rental vacancy rate at 0.7 per cent.
Some of these homeowners may choose to rent out their places and there’s a lot to know about becoming a landlord according to CEO of Landlord BC David Hutniak.
“Being a landlord is running a business, but having said that, if you learn the act (Residential Tenancy Act) and equip yourself with other tools and processes, you can do it successfully. You need to invest some time in learning what your rights are and tenant rights and ensuring you respect tenant rights.”
Hutniak says they created a specially-designed website for these potential new landlords.
“On there, they can get some initial resources, there’s links to the Residential Tenancy Act, etc. So we sort of prep them to help them make the decision as to which way they want to go. Then we are going to be running a series of webinars, sort of landlord 101 webinars and providing them some other support.”
He understands becoming a landlord isn’t for everyone, so the site will also help put homeowners in touch with professional property management companies who can handle the day-to-day for them.
