Can non-residents buy real estate in Whistler?

YES!! There’s no foreign buyer ban in Whistler, British Columbia. Non-residents are welcome to buy Whistler real estate. The Government of Canada announced that the foreign buyer ban would extend to January 2027, and after that who knows! I’m Marion Anderson and I help people buy real estate and Whistler.

Can I put the property purchase in an LLC? No. The LLC arrangement for business ownership is not offered in Canada. In Canada a holding company, or Holdco is a firm that exercises control over any asset class. A Holdco earns money by collecting dividends. For Canadian mortgages in a company name the company has to be registered in British Columbia. This is a holding company and everyone who is a shareholder personally guarantees the mortgage.

What is UHT on a Whistler property? The Underused Housing Tax Act is the Government of Canada’s way to find out who owns property in Canada, and track usage. For non-residents the UHT applies to all types of ownership. Therefore, each non-resident owner must file an annual UHT return. The UHT ACT requires a non-resident owner who has their property title in their personal name to use the property for 28 days, and if that happens there’s no UHT on the property. The UHT is 1% of the value of the property.

What is non-resident Withholding Tax on nightly rentals? Non-residents who own a nightly rental property in Whistler pay 25% of the gross revenue monthly to the Government of Canada. This is called Withholding Tax. The 25% holdback on gross revenue can be reduced to 25% of net income after expenses when the non-resident and the rental manager co-sign the NR6 form which is submitted to the CRA for approval. A phase 2 property has a blanket NR6. Actual income tax is determined when the income tax return is filed by a Whistler accountant, and assessed by the CRA.

Is it easy for a non-resident to get a mortgage? It’s the same process for a non-resident buyer as a resident buyer to get a mortgage in Canada. The main difference is signing the mortgage documents. Now some banks send you the documents to get notarized by a lawyer in your area. Other Banks add a condition in the approval document that all borrowers must be at one of their Canadian branches to sign the mortgage documents at the closing date. This is something to be considered when adding a family member to the title as part of the assignment term. Is everyone able to be in Canada to sign the required mortgage documents?