As we all know the provincial government (for the time being) allows homeowners who occupy their property as their principal Residence to claim a ‘Home Owner Grant’. This grant towards your property taxes for people under the age of 65 is $570 in Greater Vancouver. Interestingly enough the province pays $770 for all other areas of BC.
Grant Threshold increased
To qualify for the Home Owner Grant, your property value (assessment) must be below the Grant Threshold. The Grant Threshold has now increased to $1.65M in Greater Vancouver. The grant is reduced by $5 for each $1000 assessed value over the $1.65M. So, properties assessed over $1.714M are not eligible for the grant.
Partitioned Value
Also, here is the interesting part: Did you know you could claim the Home Owners Grant of the partitioned value of your property if it consists of your principal residence and at least one separate residence. The partitioned value of a property is the property’s assessed value divided by the number of residences on that property. To qualify, each residence must have cooking, sleeping, bathroom and living room facilities. Laneway homes, multifamily dwellings like duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes qualify as a separate residence. Unfortunately, a basement suite doesn’t qualify as a separate residence.
