Vacant Home Tax bills start coming due September 15 — here's who actually pays

If a Toronto home sat empty for six months or more of 2025 — or its owner simply forgot to file the annual declaration — the City mailed a Vacant Home Tax bill in June. Payment is due in three equal instalments on September 15, October 15 and November 16, 2026. Miss those and interest starts at 1.25% per month.

The tax is 3% of the property's Current Value Assessment. On a home assessed at $1 million, that's $30,000 for a single vacant year — real money, and a bill that has a way of surfacing mid-transaction.

How a home ends up with a bill

Every residential owner must declare their property's occupancy status each year, whether it's vacant or not. Three paths lead to a bill:

• Declared vacant — empty six months or more, with no eligible exemption.
• Deemed vacant — the owner never filed a declaration by the April 30 deadline, so the City assumes vacancy. This catches plenty of occupied homes whose owners missed the form.
• Audited — the City can reopen past declarations and issue a supplementary bill if the evidence doesn't hold up.

Billed in error? You can dispute a 2025 bill by filing a Notice of Complaint until December 31, 2026. False declarations, on the other hand, carry fines of up to $10,000 on top of the tax.

The renovation exemption runs on permits

A vacant home can escape the tax if it's undergoing major repairs or renovations — but only if all necessary building permits have been issued and the City believes work is actively progressing. The supporting documentation the City asks for is, essentially, the permit record.

That makes an address's permit history the fastest reality check on both sides: owners claiming the exemption should confirm their permits are actually issued (not just applied for), and buyers looking at a gutted "renovation project" can check whether the paper trail backs the story. A vacant house with no permits on file is a house accumulating a 3% annual tax — and possibly an audit.

Buying? The tax travels with the property

Like property taxes, an unpaid Vacant Home Tax forms a lien on the property, not a debt of the seller. If the previous owner never declared and the home gets deemed vacant, the new owner can be held responsible for the bill. The City's own guidance:

• Ask the seller for a copy of their filed declaration before closing.
• If the sale closed in the taxation year itself, the property qualifies for the transfer of legal ownership exemption — a full 100% sale, not just a name change.
• If the home sold after the taxation year, only the vendor can declare or dispute — so get it sorted before you're the one holding the bill.

Check the record before the bill finds you

Pull the property snapshot for any address to see its permit history and enforcement record in one view — useful whether you're vetting a seller's renovation exemption or your own paper trail before an audit. Already own? Monitor your address and new permits and orders land in your inbox.

Program details, exemptions and payment options are on the City's Vacant Home Tax page.