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Vacant home owners, beware: a punitive City of Windsor tax on unoccupied units is going up.
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During 2026 budget deliberations on Monday, city council voted unanimously to increase Windsor’s vacant home tax to four per cent — one percentage point more.
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“It doesn’t seem to be moving, at least in my ward, these people to put these homes up for sale, or put them up for rentals,” said Ward 8 Coun. Gary Kaschak of the existing three-per-cent tax.
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“I think that four per cent is a level that’s going to make people move.”
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Janice Guthrie, the city’s treasurer and commissioner of finance, told council that vacant properties are currently taxed at three per cent of their assessed values, as determined by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) — not at a percentage of the property tax they pay.
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The last property assessment update by MPAC was in 2016. As a result, the average MPAC-assessed residential property value in Windsor is $164,000. A tax of four per cent on the average vacant home would be approximately $6,500.
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“At this point, it is higher than the amount of property taxes that they’re paying to the city,” Guthrie said.
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“An increase of one per cent actually could generate more revenue.”
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However, she said, “The intent of this program is really not to create money to offset the levy, because if we have no homes that are vacant, then it actually costs us money to run the program.
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“The whole intent of this program is to make sure that any homes in the city that can be utilized for housing are being utilized.”
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The City of Windsor launched a separate tax on vacant residential properties in June 2024.
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The tax applies to residential properties that have been unoccupied for more than 183 days in any taxation year.
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Under the program, owners of properties suspected of being unoccupied are required to complete a declaration.
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Any revenue over and above program costs — around $100,000 per year — goes into a reserve fund used to support housing and homelessness initiatives.
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In 2024, the city taxed 130 vacant homeowners. Guthrie said the city initially billed 191, but 61 demonstrated that they met the exemption criteria.
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In 2025, the city billed 173 property owners.
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“It’s really up to the property owner,” Guthrie said. “Do they see this as a deterrent, or don’t they? Some of them did, in fact, put the homes up for sale. Some of them did complete renovations. They are being rented. We’re seeing some repeats, but then we’re finding new ones coming online.”
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At Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino’s request, council asked city staff to produce a report on further increasing the vacant home tax to five per cent.
