The town of Kap is going to opt out of the province’s vacancy rebate program.
Since 1998 the package allowed landlords of empty commercial or industry property to get rebate on their taxes if they met certain criteria including being vacant for as long as 90 days and not being a seasonal business.
Mayor Dave Plourde says there’s enough property demand in town that the program isn’t needed.
“You could argue that turning that into housing or doing something better with the property would be a better fit for it than getting rebates for vacancy,” he said. “Not to say that it’s easy to convert commercial into residential but it could mean as simple as converting it and renting out commercially as well. ”
In 2018 there were as many as 25 properties approved for the rebate saving more than $35,000, but it has dropped sharply to just one this year with about $1,561.
