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Ontario Land Transfer Tax Refund for First-Time Home Buyers Now Law

John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Home Buying Tips

Ontario Back in December we announced that the Ontario government expanded their land transfer tax refund for first time home buyers to included resale homes.  The first time home buyer refund was previously limited to new construction purchases. 

This announcement caused some confusion among home buyers because the bill for this rebate wasn't passed at that time which meant it wasn't actually law.  The Ontario government could not issue any rebates until the bill had been passed.

One of our readers informed us that Bill 44 was passed on May 14th making it law.

Requirements to qualify for a refund include:

  • The purchaser must be at least 18 years of age.
  • Applications for a refund must be made within 18 months after the date of conveyance or disposition.
  • The purchaser must occupy the home as his or her principal residence within 9 months of the date of the conveyance or disposition.
  • The purchaser cannot have previously owned a home or had any ownership interest in a home, anywhere in the world.

A spouse of the purchaser cannot have owned a home or had any ownership interest in a home, anywhere in the world while he or she was the purchaser's spouse.

Find all the details regarding the Ontario Land Transfer Tax Refund here.

John Pasalis is a sales associate at Prudential Properties Plus in Toronto and a founder of Realosophy. Email John

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Published: June 05, 2008
John Pasalis
John Pasalis - John Pasalis is the founder and President of Move Smartly, a Toronto real estate brokerage that helps buyers, sellers and investors navigate the Greater Toronto Area housing market. A frequent commentator on Toronto real estate, John has contributed to the Globe and Mail, BNN Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, and his work has been cited by the Bank of Canada, the IMF and CMHC.

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