yeah that's true. edit: But like being clear the tax only applied for things that were vacant long term, so like, it was quite possible for apartments to be va

yeah that's true. edit: But like being clear the tax only applied for things that were vacant long term, so like, it was quite possible for apartments to be vacant for "a while" between tenancies and of course there were a number of exemptions as well. So even within the context of this vacancy tax there was a lot of leverage for there to exist vacant apartments. The intent was effectively to kill off pied-a-terres and permanent vacant apartments.