The vacancy tax took effect July 1. Properties carrying a Vacant Building Notice now pay $6.744 per $100 of assessed value against a standard $2.248, rising to $8.992 in year two. Baltimore's Vacant Building Notices dataset is public and updates daily, and DHCD maintains an active-notice address search. Two operational facts every corridor merchant and district manager in the city should have: only a valid Use and Occupancy certificate removes a VBN from a property, and Baltimore City Code §14-8 requires sellers to disclose a current or prior VBN to buyers, a requirement that exists precisely because buyers have been discovering the label after closing. The number to establish for your own corridor is how many commercial properties inside your boundary currently carry a notice, because those are the landlords whose carrying cost just tripled and whose willingness to talk to a rent-ready tenant just changed.

Watch: The first §14-8 annual parcel-count report from the city, and whether any downtown commercial VBN property enters the in rem foreclosure pipeline by year end.

Source: Baltimore City Code §14-8; Open Baltimore Vacant Building Notices dataset; Baltimore DHCD