Owners of neglected properties in Regina may soon see steep increases in property taxes

Regina is stepping up enforcement on nuisance properties, with new measures aimed at hitting owners financially to force better upkeep. Donovan Maess reports.

Owners of neglected, nuisance and derelict homes in Regina may soon have to renovate their properties or pay more property tax.

Earlier this week, city council approved the creation of a new property tax subclass for derelict buildings in an attempt to hand down harsher penalties for owners who do not upkeep their lots.

“A lot of these properties were not paying their fair share,” Ward 6 Coun. Victoria Flores, who first brought forward the idea Wednesday, said. “By having this additional tool now, we will make sure it is kind of a base tax that people are paying an additional amount they’re currently not paying.”

The city hopes the tool, in addition to its current enforcement practices, will encourage property owners to act on their property.

It will see penalties be tied to the assessment of the property, where the mill rate factor will be five times the standard mill rate for non-compliance.

The creation of the new subclass follows a model first adopted by the City of Edmonton.

“You’re either in the subclass or you’re not,” City of Regina CFO Daren Anderson told councillors Wednesday. “You’re either paying five times or you’re not, right. There’s going to be a bunch of grey area in determining whether or not you’re in the class.”

“Lots of people will appeal and say, ‘My property is not actually derelict,” he added.

Demolitions continue

Currently, a compliance order, notice of violation, or prosecution are some of the primary ways the city enforces against nuisance and derelict properties. Historically, administration relied on public reporting or service requests to identify properties that may require enforcement action.

Most homes which have received derelict designation are in the Heritage and North Central neighbourhoods.

The Heritage Community Association says enforcement has not been strong enough.

“It sends a really terrible message,” executive director Wendy Miller told council. “You wouldn’t find this neglect in any other community in the city. The messaging is not the same and it should be equal.”

In 2024, city administration recognized an increase in nuisance and derelict properties and shifted to a more targeted and proactive approach.

This work was coordinated to complement the North Central Revitalization Initiative ongoing at the time. As part of the shift to proactively focus on nuisance and derelict properties in January 2024, administration:

• Conducted an initial city-wide scan to map derelict property locations throughout the city.
• Refocused officer activities with a proactive enforcement approach in high concentration neighbourhoods.
• Increased demolition enforcement on derelict/nuisance properties.
• Increased coordination with internal Real Estate and Assessment and Property Revenue services teams.

Since 2022, Regina has demolished more than 125 such properties – including 45 in 2025 up to Oct. 1.

“If enforcement has already tripled the pace of demolitions and compliance, my question is, why add a new tool that administration itself has said will require extra staff, more inspections and appeals,” asked Ward 2 Coun. George Tsiklis.

“I’m kind of coming at this from a common sense line of sight,” added Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli. “It would be my assumption an under-utilized property, a nuisance or derelict property, would come in on the absolute lowest end of our tax scale in the city. So by making a minimum point, we would be having effect on those properties.”

“We’d be wise, instead of guessing, to look to [Edmonton’s] experience,” Ward 3 Coun. David Froh said. “To be clear, they have not said the subclass is a silver bullet. They’ve outlined some real challenges with that. But I would hope that by moving slowly, we can realize some of the capacity constraints so we can set a subclass that allows us to reach our policy objectives and cover our costs.”

In addition to current bylaw enforcement practices and demolitions, Mayor Chad Bachynski hopes the subclass will encourage property owners to act.

“We owe it, especially the North Central and Heritage communities, to show we as a city do care,” he told reporters following Wednesday’s meeting. “We care about those areas of the city. That takes effort, that takes investment.”

City administration will begin drafting the criteria for the new subclass and bring it back to council for review as part of 2027 budget deliberations at the end of the year.

However, the enforcement and increasing of property taxes will not start until the 2028 tax year.