Own Vancouver Property but Live Abroad? We Handle Everything.
A full-service team for international and absentee owners of Metro Vancouver real estate. Sell remotely, place a tenant, or have us manage it — and stop the region-wide vacancy taxes from eating your equity. You never have to fly in.
By Hani Faraj | Senior Partner, REALTOR® | RE/MAX Crest Realty, Vancouver
In This Guide
- Who we work with — and why owning from abroad is harder now
- The vacancy taxes — region-wide, and the two ways out
- Option A — rent it out and have us manage it
- Option B — sell it, fully remotely and fully handled
- Older condo? How to cash out cleanly
- Selling as a non-resident: the process, explained
- The market data & valuation we give you
- Why owners overseas trust us
1. Who we work with — and why owning from abroad is harder now
Thousands of people own Metro Vancouver real estate but live somewhere else — in the United States, the Middle East, East Asia, Europe, or elsewhere in Canada. Perhaps you bought years ago and moved for work or family. Perhaps you inherited a Vancouver home. Perhaps the condo was for a child who has since finished school. Whatever the story, the property is now sitting far away, and the bills, the strata notices, and — increasingly — the vacancy-tax declarations keep arriving.
What has changed in the last few years is that an empty home in this region is no longer a neutral asset you can simply hold. Between the provincial and municipal vacancy taxes, a property that isn't lived in or properly rented can cost you several percent of its value every single year, on top of strata fees, property tax, and insurance. For an owner who can't easily fly in to deal with tenants, cleaning, or a sale, that can quietly turn a good asset into a slow drain.
The owners we help most
Owners who moved away
You relocated for work or family and kept the condo or house. It now sits empty, and the taxes and fees keep coming while you're on the other side of the world.
Families & satellite households
The property is used part of the year, or by family, and you want it handled properly — including the "satellite family" vacancy-tax rules — while you're away.
Estate & inherited property
You inherited a Vancouver home from overseas and need someone trustworthy to clear it, value it honestly, and sell it — without you having to travel.
Investors cashing out
You've held long enough, and between the taxes and an aging building you'd rather convert the property to cash than keep carrying it from abroad.
Whatever the situation, the answer is the same in structure: one local team that does the work on the ground so you don't have to, one point of contact, and honest advice about whether to rent or sell.
You have only two ways to stop the vacancy taxes on a home you don't live in: rent it to a qualifying tenant, or sell it. We do both — and this page walks through each so you can decide which fits your situation.
2. The vacancy taxes — region-wide, and the two ways out
The single most important thing for an owner abroad to understand is that a vacant home is taxed wherever it sits in Metro Vancouver — not just in the City of Vancouver. Two separate taxes are in play, and they work differently.
The provincial Speculation & Vacancy Tax (the region-wide one)
This is the tax most out-of-province and international owners underestimate, because its name mentions "speculation." It applies to residential property across every municipality in Metro Vancouver and 59 BC communities in total — Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, North and West Vancouver, Delta, Langley, White Rock and the rest, plus the Capital Region, the Fraser Valley, and the Okanagan. The rate is 0.5% of assessed value per year for Canadian citizens and permanent residents and 2% for foreign owners and "satellite families" (households that earn most of their income outside Canada). Every owner in the taxable regions must declare each year, even when exempt.
The City of Vancouver Empty Homes Tax (the city-only one)
On top of the provincial tax, the City of Vancouver charges its own Empty Homes Tax of 3% of assessed value per year on homes that are not the owner's principal residence and are left vacant for more than six months. This one applies only to properties inside the City of Vancouver — but where it applies, it stacks on the provincial tax.
A foreign owner of a vacant $1,000,000 condo faces roughly $20,000 a year (2%) anywhere in Metro Vancouver, and about $50,000 a year (5%) if that condo is inside the City of Vancouver — for a home nobody lives in, before strata fees, property tax and insurance. Each tax also has a mandatory annual declaration; miss the deadline and you can be charged even when you would have qualified for an exemption.
The former federal Underused Housing Tax (1%) was eliminated by the 2025 federal budget — no tax and no returns for 2025 onward. Rates and rules change and depend on your residency, your municipality, and how the home is used; we are not tax advisors and coordinate with your accountant. Full vacancy-tax guide →
The only two ways to stop it
1. Rent it out
Place a qualifying long-term tenant and most owners become exempt from both taxes — while earning income. We screen, lease and manage it. Property management →
2. Sell it
Cash out and the taxes, strata fees, declarations and upkeep end entirely. We run the whole sale remotely. Remote selling →
3. Option A — rent it out and have us manage it
If you'd rather keep the property, renting it does two things at once: it stops the vacancy taxes for most owners, and it turns a cost centre into monthly income. The catch, for an owner overseas, is that a tenancy only works if someone reliable runs it here — handling the 11 p.m. leak, the lease renewal, and the rent that's a few days late — without needing you to be awake in another time zone.
That's what our management service does. Through RE/MAX Crest Realty and licensed property managers, we take the property from empty to tenanted to hands-off:
What we handle
- Getting it rent-ready — cleaning, minor repairs, and a realistic rent based on current comparables in your building and neighbourhood.
- Tenant placement — marketing, screening, income and reference verification, and a solid lease that protects you as the owner.
- Rent & accounting — rent collection, owner statements, and funds remitted to you wherever you live.
- Maintenance & emergencies — trusted trades on call; we handle repairs and after-hours issues so the call never comes to you at 3 a.m.
- Compliance & the tax declarations — we keep the tenancy in order and help you stay ahead of the annual vacancy-tax declarations that keep the exemption in place.
Renting isn't just about income — a qualifying long-term tenancy is one of the two things that legally exempts most owners from both vacancy taxes. Done right, the same decision that earns you rent also removes up to 5% of the property's value in annual tax.
4. Option B — sell it, fully remotely and fully handled
If it's time to be done with the property, you can sell it without ever flying in. Most agents list a home and wait — but when the owner is overseas, that isn't enough, because someone has to actually do the work at the property: empty it, clean it, fix it, and present it well enough to earn top dollar. That end-to-end, on-the-ground work is what sets us apart.
What "full-service" actually means
On one recent sale for an owner who could not be here, we handled every part of it ourselves:
- Deep cleaning and a complete clear-out of a home that had been sitting.
- Safeguarding the owner's valuables — located, photographed, documented, and secured, with the owner kept informed at each step.
- Renovations to maximize the sale price — from paint and flooring right through to gutting and rebuilding the kitchen, because the right work returns more than it costs.
- Staging, professional photography and full marketing to reach the most buyers and sell for the most the market will pay.
- Shipping the important and sentimental items to the owner overseas, so nothing that mattered was lost in the clear-out.
You approve the plan and the budget up front, then we execute and send you updates and photos as we go. One team, one point of contact, no flights. See how a remote sale works in detail →
5. Older condo? How to cash out cleanly
Older condos deserve their own mention, because holding one from abroad can get expensive in ways that aren't obvious from overseas. Strata fees rise. A special assessment — a one-time levy for a new roof, envelope repairs, or elevators — can arrive without warning and run into tens of thousands of dollars. The building's depreciation report may flag major systems nearing end of life. And all of that runs in the background while the vacancy taxes tick along.
For many owners, the sensible move is to cash out before those costs land, rather than keep feeding an aging asset. We'll give you an honest valuation, tell you frankly whether a modest refresh will lift the sale price (and handle it if it will), and sell the unit remotely — converting a cash-draining condo into money in your account.
6. Selling as a non-resident: the process, explained
If you are a non-resident of Canada for tax purposes, selling has one extra layer that catches owners off guard, so it's worth understanding up front. It does not stop you from selling — thousands of non-residents sell BC property every year — but the timeline has to be managed.
The Section 116 clearance certificate
When a non-resident sells Canadian real estate, the Canada Revenue Agency requires a Section 116 clearance certificate. Until it is issued, the buyer's lawyer is required to hold back a portion of the sale proceeds (commonly 25% of the sale price, or more for certain properties) as security against the seller's potential tax. Once your accountant files the required forms and the certificate is issued, the holdback is released. Your lawyer and accountant handle the filing; our job is to line up the sale timeline so the closing and the clearance work together rather than against each other.
The clearance process takes time, so it should be started as part of listing — not scrambled at closing. We flag it at the outset and coordinate with your professionals. We are not tax or legal advisors; we make sure the steps happen in the right order alongside yours.
7. The market data & valuation we give you
You shouldn't have to guess what your property is worth from the other side of the world. Before you decide anything, we prepare a current valuation backed by the recent sold comparables, active competition, days-on-market, and pricing trends for your exact building and neighbourhood — the same data we use to price our own listings. If you're weighing rent versus sell, we'll show you both: a realistic rent and a realistic sale price, so the decision is made on numbers, not hunches. Send us the address and we'll put it together.
8. Why owners overseas trust us
Hani Faraj is a Senior Partner and REALTOR® with RE/MAX Crest Realty in Vancouver, a member of the RE/MAX Diamond Club and Medallion Club, and leads a top-100 team in Western Canada. More to the point for an owner abroad: this team routinely acts for people who cannot be here in person, and treats a client's property — and their valuables — the way we'd want our own handled. You get straight answers, one point of contact, and updates that arrive in your time zone.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. You don't need to be in Canada — documents are signed remotely through your lawyer or notary with e-signing and video ID, and we handle showings, marketing and negotiations for you. Non-resident sellers have an extra step (a CRA Section 116 clearance certificate and a proceeds holdback) that your lawyer and accountant file and we coordinate.
Yes. The provincial Speculation & Vacancy Tax applies across all of Metro Vancouver (Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, the North Shore and more) and 59 BC communities — 0.5% for citizens/PRs, 2% for foreign owners and satellite families. The 3% City of Vancouver Empty Homes Tax applies only inside the City of Vancouver, and stacks on top there. The federal Underused Housing Tax was eliminated for 2025+.
For a foreign owner: about $20,000/year (2%) anywhere in Metro Vancouver, or about $50,000/year (5%) inside the City of Vancouver where the 3% Empty Homes Tax stacks on top. Citizens/PRs pay the lower 0.5% provincial rate — before strata fees, property tax and insurance.
Yes — cleaning, clear-outs, safeguarding valuables, repairs and renovations (up to gutting and rebuilding a kitchen), staging, and shipping important items to you overseas. One point of contact, updates in your time zone.
Yes. Placing a qualifying long-term tenant exempts most owners from the vacancy taxes and generates income. Through RE/MAX Crest Realty and licensed property managers we handle screening, leasing, rent, maintenance and reporting.
Absolutely. We value it honestly, advise whether a light refresh will lift the price, handle any work, and sell it remotely — before more special assessments or rising fees erode your equity.
Use the form below with your property address and what you'd like to do. Hani will come back with a current valuation and a simple plan — no obligation.
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Prefer to call now? 604-265-7975 · Hani Faraj · Senior Partner & REALTOR® · RE/MAX Crest Realty