Short-term rental zoning bylaw amendments are in effect. The amendments now permit short-term rentals (any rental that is less than 28 consecutive days) across the city in principal residences. Within their principal residence, people can rent up to three rooms or their entire home.
Licensing and Registration Of Short-Term Rentals bylaw has also come into effect. Municipal Accommodation Tax: 4%
Short-term rentals would be allowed only in landlords’ principal residences for up to 180 nights a year for an entire house or apartment. Homeowners could also rent up to three bedrooms year round on a short-term basis — a term defined as less than 28 days.
Basement apartments wouldn’t be allowed to use as short-term rentals. Only the full-time resident of those suites could let those units for less than 28 days.
There are 2 main proposals for housing affordability which were introduced; The First-Time Home Buyers Incentive Program and an increase to the Home Buyer’s Plan.
The First-Time Homebuyer Incentive Program is scheduled to be launched in the fall of 2019 and we expect further details in the coming months as the program gets finalized. Once we receive the final program and have an opportunity to assess we will certainly share this with you and your valued clients.
Here, we will focus on the increase to the Home Buyer’s Plan (HBP), the final report was submitted, now it is in active and eligible for qualified buyers. This increase to the HBP withdrawal limit will apply in respect of withdrawals made after March 19, 2019 given that the Purchase and Sale agreement was also signed after this date.
First-Time Home Buyers’ Plan:
Currently, the Home Buyer’s Plan (HBP) allows first-time home buyers to withdraw up to $25,000 from their Registered Retirement Savings Plan to purchase or build a new home without having to pay tax on the withdrawn amount. Budget 2019 proposes to increase the HBP limit to $35,000 per first-time home buyer or $70,000 per couple. Buyers that are going through the breakdown of marriage or common-law partnership will be permitted to participate in the HBP even if they are not first-time home buyers provided that the separated person lives separate and apart from their spouse or common law partner for at least 90 days.
Here’s an example of some of the ways this program could help you:
01: Increased Eligibility:
Buyers that have access to this program can benefit from the flexibility of increasing their purchasing power by $10K. This provides leverage and further opportunities for you being First-Time Home Buyer.
02. Decreased Payment:
An increase to the down payment by $10K will provide you approximately $50 in savings on the monthly mortgage payments.
03. Reduced Income Qualification:
An increase to down payment allows buyers to qualify for slightly more home. In this specific circumstance a buyer looking to buy for $500,000 would need about $3K less in income by increasing their down payment by $10,000. This will help borrowers that are on the cusp of qualifying.
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