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Home owner grant

Last updated on May 15, 2024

The home owner grant reduces the amount of property taxes you pay each year on your principal residence.

The grant is available to homeowners who pay property taxes to a municipality, or to the province if they live in a rural area. If you pay your property taxes to a First Nation, contact the First Nation directly.

What do you want to do?

Learn about the grant

Learn about claiming a retroactive grant

Apply for your grant

Submit documents online

Check your application status

Change your application

About the home owner grant

Most eligible property owners qualify for the regular grant (also called the basic grant). 

Instead of the regular grant, you may qualify for a higher amount of grant (called the additional grant) if you are:

Regular grant

The regular grant amount is $570 for properties located in the Capital Regional District, the Metro Vancouver Regional District and the Fraser Valley Regional District. For all other areas of the province the grant amount is $770.

If your property is assessed below the threshold and you meet certain qualification criteria, you will receive the full regular grant amount. If your property is assessed over the threshold, you may receive a partial grant (learn more about the grant threshold).

Property owners must pay at least $350 in property taxes before receiving the regular grant. 

Property owners who may qualify for the additional home owner grant instead of the regular grant (for example seniors, veterans, or persons with a disability) must pay at least $100 in property taxes before receiving the grant.

These minimum amounts of property taxes fund services such as road maintenance and police protection.

Note: The grant amounts may be adjusted to ensure the minimum amount of annual taxes are paid. 

Do I qualify?

To qualify for the grant:

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Your principal residence

For the purpose of claiming the home owner grant, you can have only one principal residence.

If you own more than one home, you cannot designate which one is your principal residence.

Your principal residence is the usual place that you make your home. It’s where you live and conduct your daily affairs, like pay bills and receive mail. It's also generally the residence used in your government records for your income tax, medical services plan, driver's licence and vehicle registration.

To qualify for the home owner grant, your principal residence must be assessed and taxed as an improvement, such as:

  • Single family dwelling
  • Strata duplex
  • Strata condominium 
  • Strata townhouse 
  • Manufactured homes
  • Modular homes

You must occupy your principal residence when you apply for the home owner grant, except in special circumstances. You may still be able to apply for the grant while away from your principal residence if:

 

Grant threshold and partitioning your property

Grant threshold

​The grant threshold is the maximum assessed or partitioned value of a property where home owners are eligible to claim the home owner grant.

Full grant amount

The grant threshold for 2024 is $2,150,000. You may be able to claim the full grant amount if your property has an assessed or partitioned value of $2,150,000 or less.

Reduced grant amount

If you meet all requirements but your property’s assessed or partitioned value is above $2,150,000, you may qualify for a reduced grant amount.

The grant is reduced by $5 for each $1,000 of assessed value over $2,150,000.

No grant amount

The regular grant amount is $0 if the residential or partitioned value is over $2,264,000 ($2,304,000 in the northern and rural area).

The additional grant amount is $0 if the residential or partitioned value is over $2,319,000 ($2,359,000 in the northern and rural area).

Partitioned value

Partitioning your property value may enable you to claim the home owner grant if:

  • You previously could not, or could only claim a reduced grant, because of the high assessed value of your property, and
  • Your property consists of your principal residence and at least one separate residence

You can apply to have the assessed value of your property partitioned using the Home Owner Grant Partitioning application.

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 and multi-family dwellings like a duplex, triplex and fourplex qualify as separate residences. A suite in your principal residence does not qualify as a separate residence.

 

Buying or selling your property

If you are buying or selling a property, there are other factors that will determine the amount you can claim for the home owner grant.

If you purchased your property during the current tax year, you may be eligible for the home owner grant if you meet the following requirements:

  • The previous owner did not claim the grant on the property
  • You did not receive the grant this year for another property
  • You’re occupying the property as your principal residence when you apply for the grant

Apply for the home owner grant

You must apply for the home owner grant each year. Only one grant can be claimed for a property each year.

Find out when and how to apply for the home owner grant. You may also be able to apply for a retroactive grant if you qualified last year but didn't apply. 

Apply for the multiple home owner grant

If you’re the registered owner of a land co-operative or multi-dwelling leased parcel, you can work with eligible occupants living in your building or on your property to apply for the multiple home owner grant.

Notice of disentitlement

If you have received a Notice of Disentitlement that indicates you're not eligible for a home owner grant, find out how to pay your outstanding balance.

Auditing

Grant applications are audited for up to 7 years to make sure taxpayers are eligible for the home owner grants they receive.

Get help

If you have any questions about the home owner grant, you may contact us at:

Toll Free: 1-888-355-2700

Phone: 250-387-0555

Mailing: Home Owner Grant Administration
PO Box 9446 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9V6