REAL ESTATE · 4 MIN READ
The land transfer tax rebate first-time buyers keep missing
Up to $4,000 back in Ontario, and there are more ways to disqualify yourself than most buyers realise.
Ontario refunds first-time buyers up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax. On a $500,000 purchase that covers the whole bill; above roughly $368,000 you are paying the difference.
The eligibility rules catch people out. You must be at least eighteen, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and you must occupy the home as your principal residence within nine months. You must never have owned a home anywhere in the world — not just in Ontario, and not just recently.
That last point does the most damage. A condo owned briefly in another country a decade ago disqualifies you. So does having owned a home that you sold before you met your current partner.
Spousal ownership matters too: if your spouse owned a home while you were spouses, you are disqualified, even if you were never on title. If they owned it before you were together and sold it before you were spouses, you are not.
Where only one of two purchasers qualifies, the rebate is available in proportion to that person's interest in the property. Two buyers, one qualifying, half the rebate.
Claim it on registration and it comes off what you pay on closing. Miss it there and you have eighteen months to apply directly to the Ministry of Finance — which works, but you will have had to find the money on closing day first.
This is general information about Ontario law, not advice about your situation, and reading it does not make you our client. If any of it sounds like your circumstances, book a consultation and get an answer that accounts for the facts.