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The city of Vancouver has filed court documents defending a decision to impose a $249,000 vacancy tax on the owner of a Point Grey property.

In June, Yi Ju He, the owner of the property at 4749 Belmont, filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to quash the tax, which is also known as the empty home tax.

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He, the wife of wealthy businessman Zheng Jianjiang, said that for the year 2017 she qualified for an exemption that applies to residential property unoccupied for more than six months for development purposes.

She claimed to have filed a property tax declaration and was redeveloping the property, which she’d purchased in 2015 and which was assessed at $24.9 million.

In its response to the petition, the city says that He failed to submit a declaration resulting in the property being declared subject to the tax, which was implemented in 2016 in a bid by the city to return empty or underused properties to use as long-term rental homes for people who live and work in the city.