Litman – Tax Court of Canada finds that a laneway house built atop an unsevered garage qualified as a new residential complex for HST rebate purposes

Mr. Litman built a laneway house on top of a detached garage on his property in Ottawa, without severing it, and claimed the new housing rebate. In finding that this qualified under ETA s. 256(2)(a) as the construction of a residential complex which was a single unit residential complex for use as the primary place of residence of a relation (his mother), St-Hilaire J stated that:

The laneway house is detached from the main house and it forms a new residential complex where, prior to its construction, there was none. In addition, I see nothing in the definition of residential complex that requires that the laneway house be held under separate title to meet the requirements of that definition.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Litman v. The King, 2024 TCC 58 under ETA s. 256(2).