CRA confirms that a home is not acquired for FHSA purposes until it become habitable

CRA has published Q.2 from the November 3, 2023 APFF Financial Strategies and Instruments Roundtable. As discussed in greater detail last November, CRA indicated in the context of the application of the new FHSA rules to a constructed home, that:

• regarding the requirement in para. (a) of the “qualifying withdrawal” definition - that an individual commenced use of the home as a principal place of residence not later than one year after the qualifying home’s “acquisition” - a “home is generally acquired by the individual when it becomes habitable.”
• in the scenario where the home is constructed by the individual with the assistance of trades, the requirement in para. (c) of the “qualifying withdrawal” definition - that the individual have entered into an agreement prior to the withdrawal time for the acquisition or construction of the qualifying home before October 1 of the following calendar year - could be satisfied by agreements with such trades, provided that those agreements showed “that sufficiently significant work was undertaken to complete the construction of the qualifying home before October 1 of the calendar year following [the withdrawal].”

Neal Armstrong. Summaries of 3 November 2023 Roundtable, Q.2, 2023-0978631C6 F under s. 146.6(1) - “qualifying withdrawal” - (a), (c).