BC’s 3-day Rescission Period
This allows a “cooling off” period for buyers
*excludes the day of acceptance, weekends & holidays
*cannot be waived by any party
*contract can be rescinded with a .25% fee, it’s unclear if it will be payable “up front” at this point
*normal subjects/conditions still apply and the rescission cannot be used if you cannot fulfill one or more of your conditions
Federal Foreign Buyer Policy (2-year ban)
Foreign citizens will not be allowed to buy a residential property in Canada except in certain areas (Whistler for example) or if you are one of the following:
(a) a temporary resident within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act who satisfies prescribed conditions;
(b) a protected person within the meaning of subsection 95(2) of that Act;.
(c) an individual who is a non-Canadian and who purchases residential property in Canada with their spouse or common-law partner if the spouse or common law-partner is a Canadian citizen, person registered as an Indian under the Indian Act, permanent resident or person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); or
(d) a person of a prescribed class of persons.
Bill C-23 Home Flipping Tax ef. Jan 1,2023
Anti-flipping and the Canada Revenue Agency
Essentially, under the new tax law, anyone who sells a property that they owned for less than 12 months (specifically, 365 consecutive days) will be considered to have “flipped” the house, and any profits from the deal will be taxed as business income.
Exemptions will apply to some changes in life circumstances;
Births of children
New Job
Divorce
Death
Disability; or other circumstances not yet known (the new legislation may or may not contain a detailed list).
Understanding the Real Estate details in the B.C. Budget 2018
ADDITIONAL PROPERTY TAX FOR FOREIGN ENTITIES AND TAXABLE TRUSTEES
1.Has gone from 15% to 20%, effective today.
2.Contracts written before Feb. 20, 2018 with a closing on or before May, 2018 are exempted, but only for Capital Regional District, Fraser Valley Regional District, Regional District of Central Okanagan or Nanaimo Regional District. Note this exemption does not apply in Greater Vancouver.
3.Transfers pursuant to court order, order nisi of foreclosure, separation agreement, transfer from personal rep of deceased’s estate to beneficiary or transfer to surviving joint tenant are also exempt, provided the triggering event occurred before Feb. 20, 2018.
4.This tax applies to the Capital Regional District, Fraser Valley Regional District, Regional District of Central Okanagan, Nanaimo Regional District and Greater Vancouver. The areas for each region can be found at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/property-transfer-tax/understand/additional-property-transfer-tax/bc-areas
5.Only on residential property; if property is farmland or commercial with a residential component, tax applies on the residential component.
6.Exemption for BC Provincial Nominee Program still applies.
SPECULATION TAX
1.Tax is meant to target foreign and domestic homeowners who do not pay income tax in B.C.
2.Tax will apply to same areas as foreign buyers tax apart from Okanagan, where it only applies to Kelowna and West Kelowna.
3.Starts in 2018 at $5.00 per $1,000.00 of assessed value, goes up to $20 in 2019.
4.Not sure how this will affect vacation homes, nor when this tax is payable.
PROPERTY TRANSFER TAX
1.Tax rises from 3% to 5% on value of homes over $3,000,000.00.
2.Remains at 1% on first $200,000.00, 2% on amounts between $200,000.00 and $2,000,000; 3% on amounts between $2,000,000.00 and $3,000,000.00 and 5% on amounts over $3,000,000.00.
PRE-SALE CONDO ASSIGNMENTS
1.Developers will collect and report information about pre-sale condo purchases; nothing else in budget about pre-sale contracts or assignments that we have seen.
B.C. HOME OWNER SECOND MORTGAGES
1. This program is now cancelled.
Stay tuned as there will be more to come.
