Federal Ban on Foreign Buyers Jan 1 2023

Good afternoon everyone, hope you are staying warm!

The federal ban on foreign buyers starts on Jan. 1, 2023, and the regulations were finally published yesterday. We have spent a few hours on them but still have more questions than answers such as:

  1. What cities/areas does the ban apply – from what we can tell, everywhere that is part of a census agglomeration or census metropolitan area. Check out Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census – Census metropolitan area of Vancouver (statcan.gc.ca) for the Vancouver CMA. Although the page is for Vancouver if you scroll down there is a list of all CMA’s or CA’s in the province. Looks like Whistler is ok.
  2. What if the contract is entered into prior to Jan. 1, 2023 – the act allows for an exemption if the non-Canadian assumes liability under an agreement of purchase and sale before Jan. 1, 2023; not clear if the contract has to be subject free or not, but we do not think it does (not a legal opinion though);
  3. Who can buy – number of exemptions, including certain temporary residents, those with work permits, diplomats, refugees and a few others;
  4. What else – there is an exemption rental units, properties acquired through foreclosure (yes, we are serious), properties acquired through spousal separation, and properties that may be inherited.

For anyone who wants some light Christmas reading the Act can be found at Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act (justice.gc.ca) while the Regulations can be enjoyed at Canada Gazette, Part 2, Volume 156, Number 26: Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Regulations.

If you have a client that may be affected by this let us know. So long as the client will use our firm, we will be happy to assist. We will do our best to reply to all questions, but our focus will be on our current closings.

As always, thanks for the support!

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