Canada: Real Estate

For decades, thousands of Canadians have owned cottages on land leased from First Nations. Many have bought, sold, renovated, and passed these properties down through generations, often treating them much like any other cottage.

When a building owner issued hundreds of design changes worth over $2.7 million in extra work but refused to grant schedule extensions, could they still claim liquidated damages for delays? The BC Court of Appeal's decision in CIMIC Morningstar Investments Ltd. v. Chandos Construction Ltd. examines four critical principles that construction parties must understand when managing delay disputes, including notice compliance, promissory estoppel, and the prevention principle.

When a purchaser fails to close on a real estate transaction, any deposit made towards the purchase will be automatically forfeited even where the seller suffered no loss. As a result, the purchaser may be losing out on tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On February 27, 2018, a majority of the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Tax Court of Canada and decided that a new-home purchaser cannot claim the GST/HST New Housing Rebate if a co-signer of the purchase agreement doesn’t satisfy the rebate conditions—even if the co-signer held title as a bare trustee for the purchaser’s benefit.

If you are a Muslim homebuyer weighing a halal mortgage against a conventional one, the product that keeps you offside your faith may still put you offside the taxman in ways a conventional mortgage never would.

For Canadian investors, real estate often functions as a complex financial instrument where leveraged positions are utilized to drive long-term wealth accumulation. When these properties generate annual losses, the intersection of tax law and administrative oversight becomes a critical area for scrutiny.

The Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) allows taxpayers to voluntarily correct errors or omissions in their tax affairs, including in particular GST/HST, before the CRA takes compliance action.

This article examines Build Canada Homes' strategic use of the Buy Canadian policy and government lands in addressing Canada's housing challenges. The analysis explores both the implementation of these approaches and the significant critiques and challenges facing BCH and the broader commercial real estate sector.

For most individuals, the purchase or sale of property will be the largest financial decision made in their lifetime. As a first-time seller, the tax implications surrounding such a decision can make this process complex and intimidating. These considerations become increasingly sophisticated when dealing with the sale of a home that the seller does not reside in, such as a rental property.