Forgot to declare if you're living in your Hamilton home? City extends deadline for vacant unit tax

Samantha Beattie · CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 1:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

The City of Hamilton is extending the April 30 deadline for anyone who has yet to declare if their spot is vacant oregon not. 

All homeowners present person until May 30 to pass the city, arsenic portion of the caller vacant portion taxation (VUT) program. The caller deadline was approved by assembly Wednesday. 

This the archetypal twelvemonth of the VUT, which volition spot the metropolis enforce a 1 per cent levy connected a home's assessed worth if nary 1 was living determination for much than fractional of 2024. 

Mike Zegarac, wide manager of finance, told assembly that arsenic of Wednesday, the metropolis has received declarations for 94 per cent of Hamilton's 180,000 homes. 

Staff are moving "with compassion and successful an effort assistance spot owners," helium said. 

The taxation is designed to discourage investors from buying homes and letting them beryllium bare alternatively of renting them retired to semipermanent tenants. 

Any gross generated from the programme volition spell toward expanding affordable lodging supply, the metropolis says.

City mounting up entreaty process

The metropolis mailed letters to each homeowners informing them of the process.

Some councillors have had concerns not each residents would beryllium alert of the VUT, miss the declaration window, and beryllium inadvertently penalized. If the metropolis doesn't person a effect from homeowners, unit volition presume the spot is vacant and contented the tax. 

"What astir the small aged ladies who don't work their mail?" Coun. Brad Clark asked unit Wednesday. "Folks who were snowbirds and retired of town? There could beryllium a decease successful the family. There's a full database of reasons wherefore radical mightiness not beryllium paying attraction to their mail." 

Clayton Pereira, manager of gross services, said unit person worked "tirelessly" to create an entreaty strategy to grip complaints. 

"Ultimately our extremity present is to amended the residents and marque a determination that's fair," helium said. 

Homeowners request the rotation fig and entree codification recovered connected the declaration announcement missive from the metropolis oregon their astir caller spot taxation bill. They tin marque declarations online oregon by phone, email oregon successful person. 

More accusation tin beryllium recovered here.