The City has a way of tracking these...there are penalties and fines for those who do not submit the declaration on time.
They are definitely cross-checking with utility companies to look at daily usage and the timing of usage as well. My understanding is that city representatives are also visually looking for gardens, driveways, etc. that may provide the appearance of the house being uninhabited.
But homeowners can hire people to trim, snow removal so as use technology to control the daily utility usage.
You are correct. Bottom line is, the City is going after this pretty aggressively.
They can, and there are a number of companies that provide these services and more (e.g., they go into houses, turn on lights, turn on water taps, etc.). Personally, I think they should all be shut down and the owners/employees charged with attempted fraud. But that's just my opinion.
No idea whether they pay or not. However, I'm sure some buyers will be interested in these auctions:
Perhaps they should now switch to using industrial, agricultural, retail and other Canadian non residential lands as piggy banks:http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/foreign-buyers-are-using-canadian-homes-as-piggy-banks-rbc-ceo-warns
“If capital is coming in to sit in a home, unproductively, and is distorting your marketplace and the livelihood of your residents — no thank you.”
I say BS
These banks are the ones giving mortgages to rich students and homemakers, they are all complicit to this housing crisis.
http://i.imgur.com/ij1q5uU.jpg
