{"id":563549,"date":"2026-03-27T04:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563549\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:09:12","slug":"fix-up-or-fork-out-edmonton-to-hike-taxes-on-neglected-business-properties-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/563549\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix up or fork out: Edmonton to hike taxes on neglected business properties – Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Owners of derelict commercial and business buildings will have to pay up or move on, after City of Edmonton<\/a> city councillors approved creating new tax<\/a> rules incentivizing owners to deal with their rundown properties.<\/p>\n

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Councillors on the executive committee voted Thursday to create a new tax subclass targeting owners of derelict commercial buildings and property, after receiving a report from administration<\/a> about it.<\/p>\n

Owners could see a jump in their taxes by up to 57 per cent if they don\u2019t fix up their decrepit properties or demolish them.<\/p>\n

Edmonton already has a similar program for residential derelict properties, which has seen success since it was first implemented in 2023. Several homes have been either torn down or renovated.<\/p>\n

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The city heard from community members and business owners at the executive committee meeting who voiced frustration over how derelict buildings attract vandalism, crime, and pose major fire and\/or safety risks.<\/p>\n

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The city hopes applying steeper tax rules for businesses will make owners take a harder look at keeping these vacant properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to know that council takes this very seriously,\u201d said Coun. Ashley Salvador, who spearheaded the motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese properties are detrimental to the health, well-being and vibrancy of our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hopes the new rules will give community members peace of mind the issues are now being addressed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is an indicator that we\u2019re taking a stronger approach and want to see action.\u201d<\/p>\n

City administration identified 20 properties that would fit the criteria of a non-residential derelict property, based on complaints.<\/p>\n

The properties ranged in value from $194,500 to $8.5 million, for a combined $29 million in assessment in 2026, and generated about $700,000 in taxes in 2025.<\/p>\n

Tax forgiveness would be provided to properties that are demolished or remediated partway through the year.<\/p>\n

The report about the proposed change noted there are likely additional properties in less-populated areas that would meet the definition of derelict, but have not yet generated complaints.<\/p>\n

The city will now get to work on implementation, including defining language about what qualifies as a derelict or unoccupied property.<\/p>\n

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Assessment notices could be going out to property owners in two years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size Owners of derelict commercial and business buildings will have to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,105143,2169,23752,134,714,29721],"class_list":["post-563549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-city-of-edmonton","tag-crime","tag-edmonton","tag-money","tag-politics","tag-property-tax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}