Buying a home is often the most significant financial decision that someone will make in their life. However, some real estate practices are putting even more pressure on home buyers and leaving them questioning whether or not they paid too much for their home.
Moving Forward on a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights
Unfair practices like blind bidding or asking buyers to waive their right to a home inspection can make the process of buying a home even more stressful for too many Canadians. To help level the playing field for young and middle class Canadians, the government will take steps to make the process of buying a home more open, transparent, and fair.
- Budget 2022 announces that the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion will engage with provinces and territories over the next year to develop and implement a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and bring forward a national plan to end blind bidding. Among other things, the Home Buyers Bill of Rights could also include ensuring a legal right to a home inspection and ensuring transparency on the history of sales prices on title searches.
- To support these efforts, Budget 2022 proposes to provide $5 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Housing for Canadians, Not for Big Corporations
Housing should be for Canadians to use as homes.
However, in recent years, the significant increase in housing prices has led to large investors acquiring a larger portfolio of residential housing. There is a concern that this concentration of ownership in residential housing can drive up rents and house prices, and undercut the important role that small, independent landlords play. Many believe that this trend has also led to a rise in “renovictions”, when a landlord pressures and persuades their tenants to leave, or is formally permitted to evict them to make extensive renovations in order to raise rents.
To address these concerns:
- Budget 2022 announces a federal review of housing as an asset class, in order to better understand the role of large corporate players in the market and the impact on Canadian renters and homeowners. This will include the examination of a number of options and tools, including potential changes to the tax treatment of large corporate players that invest in residential real estate. Further details on the review will be released later this year, with potential early actions to be announced before the end of the year.
Source: https://budget.gc.ca/2022/report-rapport/chap1-en.html#2022-1