Edmonton has a new incentive to make it more appealing for owners of rundown homes to fix them sooner than later.
The city began taxing “problem properties” in central neighbourhoods at three times the regular residential rate this year. The higher tax rate penalizes owners who leave homes in a dangerous state of disarray with financial consequences. This includes residential buildings abandoned during construction or demolition.
On Wednesday, city council approved a new incentive to sweeten the deal.
Owners who demolish or fix derelict homes earlier in the year will get some of their money back. A new tax forgiveness program essentially refunds owners the difference between the regular and higher rates for the portion of the year after the property is fixed or demolished.
The faster property owners correct the problems, the less tax the owner will need to pay, explained Cate Watt, branch manager for assessment and taxation.
“This is a great financial incentive to remediate quickly,” she told reporters Wednesday. “It’s about fairness, so we’re ensuring those who have done their part to clean up are recognized for those efforts.
“Incentivizing property owners to clean up their derelict properties more quickly does have a positive impact on community safety and vibrancy, and it reduces the disproportionate amount of city costs associated with these properties for services such as bylaw enforcement and fire.”
The policy goes into effect immediately. Property owners will soon be able to apply for rebates. The city expects to issue about $55,000 in refunds this year.
New rules are working
Edmonton is the first municipality in Canada to take this approach, and it’s starting to have the intended effect, Watt said.
More than 10 per cent of homes assessed as derelict have been demolished and several others have been cleaned up. The city assessed more than 200 homes as “derelict” for this year and at least 23 have since been demolished.
After council approved the new tax rates last fall there’s now some support for incentives as well.
“As we rolled it out, it became clear that there is a subset of these types of properties where folks do take the initiative, do make the changes that they’re looking for, and council is completely on board with that,” Watt said.
The reason these homeowners pay more, she explained, is because dealing with problem properties is expensive for the city — there’s a disproportionate number of calls for fires and for bylaw enforcement at these addresses.
In some cases, property owners had plans to redevelop their lots but didn’t pull the trigger. The new rules, Watt explained, gave them that final push to act.
“What we’re finding is that there’s often plans in place for these properties, and this is like the instigator for those plans to be put in motion,” she said.
“This has gone over really well with the community at large. These are properties that people see every day, they have their feelings about that. They recognize that this is pulling away from the vibrancy of the neighbourhoods that they want to live in and so in general, this is an initiative that has been well supported by the public.”
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