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Armida Spada-McDougall, a retired schoolteacher and realtor who owns three condo units at the Wall Centre on Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver, was asked by the city to provide tenancy agreements.

She has been opposed to the tax, and now, she is even more irked.

Spada-McDougall says she lives in one of the luxury tower units, and rents out the other two to long-term tenants.

A few weeks ago, after filing her declaration, the city requested a copy of the rental agreements Spada-McDougall has signed with her tenants. She refused to hand them in even though they would go toward establishing her claim and exempt her from the tax. One of her units has been rented out for a year and the other for two years, she says.

“It’s a matter of privacy and trust.”

The city’s empty house tax charges owners one per cent of a property’s assessed value if a unit wasn’t used for more than 180 days in 2017, and will be charged annually. It is designed to encourage owners to rent out or sell empty or lightly used units.

In a city of gripped by housing unaffordability, with high prices for buyers and a near-zero vacancy rate for renters, many have cheered the city’s move. But some owners are protesting, especially as the province has since unveiled its own set of housing taxes.

The city has previously said it is spending $7.4 million to administer and implement its empty homes tax program, but declined to break out the number of staff assigned to and money earmarked for auditing purposes.