Toronto Vacant Home Tax: Rules, Exemptions and Buyer Risk

A bill you disagree with is challenged through a Notice of Complaint. The deadline to dispute a 2025 bill is December 31, 2026, and the deadlines for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 tax years have passed. If an audit produces a Supplementary Notice of Assessment, you have 90 days from the date on that bill to file a complaint, and 60 days from the date of a City request letter to send in documents supporting your occupancy or exemption claim.

False declarations of occupancy status, or failing to provide information when the City asks for it, can bring a fine of up to $10,000 on top of the tax itself (City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 778, retrieved September 16, 2026). Keep every record behind your occupancy or exemption claim for at least three years.

What the bill comes to

Three per cent of Current Value Assessment is a large number on a Toronto home. On a unit assessed at $700,000, one year of tax is $21,000. The calculation runs on the MPAC assessed value shown on your property tax bill, not on what the home would sell for, so check the assessment before you estimate anything.

Payments for the 2025 Vacant Home Tax are due in three equal instalments on September 15, October 15 and November 16, 2026 (City of Toronto, retrieved September 16, 2026). Overdue amounts carry interest at 1.25 per cent on the first day of default and on the first day of every month after that. Unpaid tax is added to the property tax roll and collected the same way as property taxes, which is what turns it into a problem for whoever owns the property next.

The exemptions

A vacant property still has to be declared, but eight categories exempt it from the tax. Each one needs supporting documentation, and the City lists all of them on its Vacant Home Tax page (retrieved September 16, 2026).

• Death of the registered owner. Claimable for up to three consecutive taxation years where the owner died in the taxation year or in the two years before it.
• Principal resident in care. The principal resident was in a hospital, long term care or supportive care facility for at least six months of the year. Up to two consecutive years.
• Repairs or renovations. Occupation was prevented for at least six months of the year, the necessary permits were issued, and the City is satisfied the work is being carried out without unnecessary delay.
• Transfer of legal ownership. The closing date fell in the taxation year being declared and the sale was a 100 per cent transfer. Name changes, and adding or removing a second owner, do not count.
• Occupancy for full-time employment. The owner or their spouse is employed full time in Toronto for at least six months of the year and has a principal residence outside the Greater Toronto Area.
• Court order. A court order in force prohibits occupancy of the property for at least six months of the taxation year.
• Vacant new inventory. A developer's newly built unit that has never been occupied and was actively offered to the public for sale during the year. Up to two consecutive years, available since the 2023 taxation year.
• Secondary residence for medical reasons. The unit is required for medical reasons by the owner, their spouse or a dependent, and the principal residence is outside the Greater Toronto Area. Available since the 2024 taxation year.

What a buyer inherits under the Toronto Vacant Home Tax

The City is direct about this: making sure the declaration gets filed is the responsibility of the purchaser and the vendor together, and vendors are asked to hand the buyer a copy of the filed declaration. That sentence rarely survives into a listing conversation.

When the property sells during the taxation year being declared, either the vendor or the purchaser can file the declaration, and either can file a Notice of Complaint. A sale in that position qualifies for the transfer of legal ownership exemption, so the closing itself is the reason the tax does not apply for that year.

When the property sells after the taxation year being declared, only the vendor can file, because only the vendor knows whether the home was occupied in the prior year. That is the gap a buyer falls into. Where no declaration is made, the property is deemed vacant and taxed, the Vacant Home Tax forms a lien on the property, and the purchaser is held responsible for paying it. Power of sale is not an exemption either, so a buyer taking a property on that way needs the same occupancy documentation as anyone else (City of Toronto, retrieved September 16, 2026).

What to ask for before you close

Everything below is paperwork the seller can produce, and each item costs less to ask for before closing than to argue about after.

• A copy of the filed declaration of occupancy status for the most recent taxation year, and for the current year if it has been filed already.
• The prior year's declaration when you are closing early in the calendar year. That one is the vendor's to file, and the April 30 deadline may not have arrived yet.
• Written confirmation from your lawyer that no Vacant Home Tax balance or lien sits on the property tax account.
• The documents behind any exemption the seller claimed, such as building permits for a renovation exemption or the land transfer deed for a transfer of ownership exemption.
• A vendor undertaking or holdback covering the tax if an earlier year turns out to be undeclared. Your lawyer decides the right form of protection here.

Vancouver's Empty Homes Tax is a different tax

Vancouver runs its own Empty Homes Tax under a separate municipal by-law with its own rate, deadline and exemption list, so nothing on this page transfers to a property there. Our Vancouver Empty Homes Tax guide covers those rules.

Where to start

If you are shopping in the city, the Toronto Vacant Home Tax declaration history of the specific unit belongs on your due diligence list beside the status certificate. You can browse active Toronto listings or search across Ontario on Zealty. Ontario listing data on Zealty comes from the CREA Data Distribution Facility (DDF) feed, and it is limited to what that feed covers, which is active listings rather than sold history.

This article is educational and is not tax or legal advice. Confirm your own situation with the City of Toronto and with a lawyer or tax professional before you act on any of it.

NOTE: This representation is based in whole or in part on data generated by Greater Vancouver REALTORS®, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, or The Canadian Real Estate Association which assume no responsibility for its accuracy. This information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by these organizations or by the agent or brokerage hosting this website. Data presented here is under the license agreement of Holywell Properties, a British Columbia Brokerage.