Owners of leaky condos who are forced to spend thousands of dollars in repairs will have to pay even more when the new HST is rolled out this summer.
PST rebates from B.C.’s homeowners’ protection office will dry up July 1 with the implementation of the new tax.
New Democrat MLA Shane Simpson said based on numbers from a 2008 report there may be as many as 29,000 condos after 2012 that will need repairs.
The average PST relief grant per home in 2009 was $688.
Extrapolating on those figures, Simpson said it could mean leaky condo owners are out of pocket $20 million because of the loss of the PST rebate.
Simpson, the MLA for Vancouver-Hastings, pointed to a Burnaby high rise in the news recently that was looking at a $3.8-million repair bill. The loss of the PST rebate will cost each owner $1,200 to $1,500 more.
