Edmonton to tax derelict residential properties at three times the normal rate
CBC
Edmonton is introducing a new tax subclass aimed at cracking down on derelict properties.
There are about 300 residential properties in Edmonton that the city considers derelict.
The city says the properties are a problem because they can be hazardous and also look unseemly.
To deal with such properties, the Edmonton city council passed a bylaw on Wednesday, creating a new tax subclass for residential properties in mature areas of the city.
This new subclass will allow the city to charge a higher tax rate to owners of properties that are assessed as derelict.
The derelict property owners may end up getting charged three times the residential tax rates, said Ward Métis Coun. Ashley Salvador
In order to be classified as derelict, the properties must be dilapidated condition, uninhabitable, deserted, fully or partially boarded up, or abandoned during construction or demolition, said Cate Watt, branch manager at assessment and taxation with the city.
"We're not here to chase down somebody who maybe didn't cut their grass," Watt said.
"We're really looking for the blights that exist in the communities."
Anna Bubel has been a resident of the inner-city neighbourhood of McCauley for 30 years.
She lived three doors up from a derelict house that had been sitting empty. That house caught fire many times and was broken into multiple times, too, she said. Earlier this year, that house burned down and its remnants were demolished.
Such houses can be magnets for illicit activity, Bubel said.
"It's a whole range of really serious and concerning downstream effects for neighbours," Bubel said.
"If you live beside one of these properties, you don't feel safe. I have neighbours who are unwilling to walk down their own blocks for fear of what might happen if they walk by a derelict property," she said.