The BC Secondary Suite Incentive Program assists qualifying homeowners to create a new secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit (a “Secondary Suite”) on the property of their principal residence (“Property”), by providing a forgivable loan in the amount of 50% of the Secondary Suite’s construction costs, subject to a maximum loan amount. It must be rented at no more than a rent affordability limit for at least five years to a tenant who is not an immediate family member.
CRA indicated that:
- “the creation of a Secondary Suite, either within or detached from a Homeowner’s principal residence, to be used for earning rental income will generally trigger a deemed disposition pertaining to the portion of the Property so converted pursuant to subparagraph 45(1)(c)(ii)”;
- the homeowner could make an election pursuant to s. 45(2) to defer the recognition of any resulting gain to a later taxation year;
- for purposes of the principal residence exemption, “if two housing units can be enjoyed and ordinarily inhabited separate from each other without access to the other (that is, if each unit is a self-contained unit with its own entrance, kitchen and bathroom) … they will be considered separate housing units” even if “the housing units are part of a single structure or are not on separate legal lots” – so that on disposing the homeowner would have to choose which of the two units to designate as principal residence for each applicable year, as discussed below; and
- although the ordinarily-inhabited condition under the principal residence definition would not generally be met for the Secondary Suite while it was rented to third parties, “[w]here a subsection 45(2) election is made by a taxpayer for a property that is the subject of a change in use, the property can qualify as the taxpayer’s principal residence for up to four taxation years during which the election remains in force, even if during those years the housing unit was not ordinarily inhabited by the taxpayer or one of the … family members … .” – so that the homeowner would be able to choose for such a year to designate the Secondary Suite rather than the balance of the property as that taxpayer’s principal residence.