Most owners meet the speculation and vacancy tax once a year, in January, when the declaration letter lands. By then the bill is already set. The tax looks at how a property was used over the calendar year that just ended, and it applies based on ownership as of December 31. That makes the next two months the part that matters and March the part that is only paperwork.
All four municipalities I work in are named taxable areas: the Township of Langley, the City of Langley, the City of Surrey and the City of White Rock. Here is how it works, what it costs locally, and which exemptions come up.
Everyone who gets a letter has to declare
Owners of residential property in a taxable area who receive a declaration letter have to complete a declaration before March 31 every year, even if they qualify for an exemption. Ignoring the letter is not a way of claiming the principal residence exemption. It is how you get assessed at the full rate.
Letters go out in January and February by postal code. In the last cycle the period opened January 19, Surrey addresses were mailed January 26 to 28, the deadline was March 31 and payment was due July 2. Next year's dates are not posted yet, but the shape of it does not move.
The province describes this as separate and distinct from the City of Vancouver's empty homes tax and from the federal underused housing tax. Vancouver's tax does not reach Langley or White Rock.
The rate doubled for 2026, and rises again in 2027
For the 2026 tax year the rate is 1 per cent of assessed value for Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are not untaxed worldwide earners, and 3 per cent for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners. For 2019 through 2025 those rates were 0.5 per cent and 2 per cent. Effective January 1, 2027 the foreign owner and untaxed worldwide earner rate goes to 4 per cent. The 1 per cent rate stays where it is.
What 1 per cent is worth on local values
The tax is charged on assessed value, which is BC Assessment's number and not a market price. The two differ, and in a softening market the assessment tends to lag. The FVREB benchmark is still the closest thing to a typical local value, so it is a fair way to size the exposure. In September 2026 the benchmark detached price was $1.471M in Langley and $1.613M across South Surrey and White Rock. Apartments were $525,900 and $544,400.
Run 1 per cent against those figures and a vacant Langley house is about $14,700 for the year, a South Surrey or White Rock house about $16,100, and a Langley condo about $5,300. That is my own arithmetic on benchmark prices, not on anybody's assessment. At the 3 per cent rate the same South Surrey house is about $48,400, and from 2027 about $64,500.
The $4,000 credit most owners do not know about
A BC resident who owes the tax usually does not pay the full 1 per cent. There is a tax credit for BC residents, and for the 2026 tax year and after the maximum is $4,000. It was $2,000 for 2025 and earlier. It is applied to the account automatically and there is nothing to claim.
To qualify you have to have filed the declaration, have been a BC resident for income tax purposes as of December 31, be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or confirmed Provincial Nominee, and not be an untaxed worldwide earner. It only applies where no exemption does.
With the credit, the Langley house above runs about $10,700 rather than $14,700, and the Langley condo about $1,300. The credit is non-refundable, cannot be carried forward and cannot be transferred to a spouse. It is calculated by ownership percentage, so co-owners each get their own share. Owners who are not BC residents have a separate credit based on BC income, and that one has to be applied for through eTaxBC after the notice of assessment arrives.
The exemptions that come up in Langley and South Surrey
There are more than twenty. These are the ones I see.
- Principal residence. One home only, the one lived in for the longest part of the calendar year. The owner has to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, a BC resident for income tax purposes and not an untaxed worldwide earner.
- Occupied by a tenant for at least six months of the year.
- Just bought or inherited. The year of purchase is covered where property transfer tax was paid or the transfer was exempt for a listed reason, and an inherited property is exempt in the year it was legally inherited.
- Recent death of an owner, for the year of death and the year after.
- Separation or divorce, where spouses lived apart at least 90 consecutive days and did not reconcile. A second year is available if family property division is not finalised.
- Lived in the home before going into residential care, up to two years, where the facility provides daily meals, housekeeping or nursing care.
- Away from home for medical reasons, up to two years for the same condition, with certification from a medical or nurse practitioner.
- A person with a disability lives in the residence.
Two assumptions are worth correcting. The province's exemption list for individuals does not include a home under construction or substantial renovation, and it does not include a home sitting empty while it is listed for sale. People expect both. Separately, property assessed at $150,000 or less is excluded, as is a building divided into four or more rental apartments that has not been stratified.
The six month tenancy rule is stricter than it reads
Tenancy is the exemption most owners of a second property rely on, and the detail is where it goes wrong.
Occupancy is counted in at least one month increments and you need six months in the calendar year. Months from different tenants can be combined, but each tenancy has to meet the requirements on its own. Because the count runs in whole months, nightly bookings build nothing toward it. If a South Surrey or White Rock suite has been running on short stays, read the short term rental rules in Langley and South Surrey alongside this, because the two rule sets pull in opposite directions.
An arm's length tenant needs a written tenancy agreement under the Residential Tenancy Act and has to make the place their home. A tenant you know needs neither a written agreement nor rent, but for a Canadian owner that person has to live there most of the time in each month being counted. A spouse can never be your tenant for this purpose, and neither can your own minor child living with a parent or guardian. Foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners face a further test: at least one tenant per residence has to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, a BC tax resident at year end, and have BC income of at least three times the property's annual fair market rent. Tenants cannot pool income to clear that bar.
Before putting a tenant in to cover a year, be clear on what that does to a future sale. My post on selling a tenanted property in BC covers the notice rules at the other end.
What is still worth doing before December 31
- If a property will sit empty through 2026 with no exemption, Decide whether a tenancy covering the first half of 2027 is worth it, and start it on a whole month.
- If you are holding two homes through a move, work out which one carries the principal residence exemption. It attaches to the home you lived in longest, not the one you would prefer.
- If title is held by a corporation or a trust, the rules and the credit are both different. Ask your accountant.
- File the declaration either way. An exemption you do not claim is a bill.
Sometimes selling is the cleaner answer. September counted 600 active detached listings across South Surrey and White Rock against 60 sales, and 449 against 64 in Langley. Price bands sit on my Langley real estate, South Surrey real estate and White Rock real estate pages. If you are weighing a second property against letting it go, should I sell before I buy works through the timing, and a home value estimate is the start.
Sources: Province of British Columbia speculation and vacancy tax pages at www2.gov.bc.ca, for taxable areas, tax rates, exemptions for individuals, tenancy requirements, the tax credit for BC residents, the declaration mailout schedule and the frequently asked questions. Fraser Valley Real Estate Board September 2026 statistics package, released October 5, 2026, for benchmark prices, sales and active listing counts. Dollar figures run against benchmark prices are my own arithmetic and are not assessments. Checked October 30, 2026. Not legal, tax or accounting advice.