An individual purchases a duplex to support and provide care to an elderly parent, and renovates it so a door now provides interior access between the two units. Meals are mostly are prepared and taken (with the parent) in the living space of the owner and the owner’s family. On resale of the property, would there be a disposition of one or two housing units? What if the duplex belonged to the parent? CRA responded (TI translation):
[T]wo units of a duplex will be considered as together constituting a single housing unit to the extent that they are sufficiently integrated so that it is not possible to live normally in the living areas of one of the units without also having access to the other unit in order to use its facilities. This will be the case, for example, if one of the units contains all the bedrooms while the other unit contains the kitchen and the bathroom, and the two units are jointly used for residential purposes as a single unit. …
[T]he fact that inner door access is installed between the two units or that meals are prepared and taken the vast majority of the time in one of the two units does not appear to be sufficient for the two units to be considered as a single housing unit for the purposes of the I.T.A. The fact that the two units each have a bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom and separate street addresses and their own electric meter are elements that tend to indicate that they instead are two separate housing units. On this basis, only the housing unit ordinarily inhabited by the individual qualifies as a principal residence. …
Our comments would be the same if the property belonged to the parent, except that in this case, one or other of the housing units could qualify as the principal residence of the parent.