Vacant unit tax declarations now open with new exemptions

A tablet showing the vacant unit tax declaration page on the city of Ottawa's website. (Leah Larocque/CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa has opened the portal to allow residents to declare the occupancy status of their properties under the vacant unit tax (VUT).

This year's declaration comes with some additional exemptions for select properties, as well as a stronger penalty for properties that are vacant multiple years in a row.

The VUT is equivalent to one per cent of a property's assessed value if the property was vacant for more than 184 days in the previous calendar year. For example, a residential unit with an assessed value of $415,000 that was declared vacant would result in an extra $4,150 tax on the owner's final property tax bill.

Farms with residences, with or without secondary structures with farm outbuilding, will not be required to submit a declaration in 2025.

All residential property owners are required to register the status of their property during the previous year; if no declaration is made, the property will be deemed vacant and will be subject to the tax. Vacant properties might be able to claim one of several exemptions to avoid having to pay the tax, but the owner must still declare the property's status.

New exemptions include rural ineligible properties (ex. rural residential century homes, recreational hunt camps, or structures significantly damaged and not capable of being used for housing), hazardous properties outside of the owner’s control, secondary residences occupied for medical care reasons, and a one-time retrofit renovation per property and owner, where the unit is occupied within one year. These are in addition to previous exemptions such as principal residence, tenanted properties, properties occupied by a family member, friend, or other resident using it as their principal residence, sale of the property, court orders, vacancy due to the owner entering long-term care, death of the owner, or construction or renovation that kept the property vacant.

Also new for 2025 is a graduated tax rate increase of one per cent per year for repeat vacancies, up to a maximum of five per cent of the property's assessed value.

The formal declaration period will open on Jan. 2, 2025. The declaration deadline is March 20, 2025, while late declarations being accepted until April 30, 2025, with a $250 late fee. A 15-month late appeal window beyond the current three-month appeal deadline is also new in 2025, allowing for late appeals with a $500 fee per assessed property.

There are several ways to submit your declaration:

Money raised via the VUT is put toward housing projects in the city. The first full year of taxation on vacant properties raised $12.6 million in revenue, with $10.3 million being allocated to the city's housing long-range financial plan. It cost $2.28 million to administer the VUT program in its first year.