Real Estate Law Blog

Introduction

Earlier this year, the federal government introduced the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act (the “Act”)^[1], which comes into force on January 1, 2023. The stated purpose of the Act is to address Canada’s housing affordability crisis.

The Prohibition

The Act will prohibit non-Canadians from purchasing ...

Canada has recently introduced legislation to implement an Underused Housing Tax (UHT).^[1] (You can read our blog on this legislation here) The UHT will apply to non-resident, non-Canadian owners of residential property. As others have pointed out, the UHT contains some unusual policy choices.^[2] For example, if the goal of the UHT is to increase housing supply, it should ...

Over the last few months, the Underused Housing Tax Act (the “Act”) has moved through the House of Commons and is currently in the final steps of the report stage. If the Act is ultimately brought into force, it will implement an annual tax of 1% on the vacant or underused residential real estate, directly or indirectly owned by non-Canadians.

Whom does the Underused ...

A recent decision of the Tax Court of Canada will be of interest to those who hold rental property for the long term and who incur expenses related to the zoning of that property. The Tax Court found that such expenses were deductible for tax purposes, and were not required to be capitalized to the cost of the property.

Background

The Income Tax Act (“Act”) distinguishes ...