HOW CAN WE HELP CREATE VANCOUVER RENTAL HOUSING?

Fair and reasonable profitability is essential to creating safe, secure and sustainable Vancouver rental housing.

If you are a registered owner of residential property in Vancouver you are required to make a property status declaration each and every year. If you fail to complete the declaration by Feb.4th this year, your property will be deemed vacant and you will be charged an additional tax of 1% of the property’s 2018 assessed value.

You can complete your declaration by visiting this link. It is an easy to follow the process online, don’t delay as any declarations after Feb.4th will be penalized $250.00 if your home is deemed vacant or not.

How can real estate investors finance much-needed maintenance and repairs to ensure safe secure housing to all sectors? It is important to always remember the Golden Rule when setting policy: “He who holds the gold makes the rules”

When we see policymakers trying to change, break, or even disregard “The Golden Rule”, we inevitably see black market activities rearing their ugly head to ensure profitability is still achieved by the ones who hold the gold. Black market activities can include, for example, charging “key money”, (buying and selling rent-controlled leases under the table), not declared and untaxed income for real estate investors, loss of tax revenues for the government, and no savings for tenants.

While it’s not a legal practice it has often been a common practice in large urban centers which are over controlled and regulated. The BC rental task force must keep in mind fairness to both real estate investors as well as tenants. This is key to long term effective policy as greedy actions by owners or renters will inevitably have negative consequences for both.