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Well, there are fines for helping bypass the laws. "The Act has a $10,000 fine for any non-Canadian or anyone who knowingly assists a non-Canadian and is convi

Well, there are fines for helping bypass the laws. "The Act has a $10,000 fine for any non-Canadian or anyone who knowingly assists a non-Canadian and is convicted of violating the Act. If a court finds that a non-Canadian has done this, they may order the sale of the house." I would assume opening a numbered corp to own the house would fall under this category? Most of the "super-rich" owned houses in Canada are already owned by corporations to leverage the protections corps have.

cainxinth 4y ago
Seems like that will just drive the foreign super rich to ‘buy’ citizenships too. With enough money and in-country fixers/ lobbyists, that’s usually not unobtainable in most countries.
- JCharante 4y ago
  The downside is the requirement to stay in Canada during that time. Plenty of people don't want to do it so they commit fraud https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2158716/special-report-how-canadian-immigration-fraud-saw-860-rich-chinese https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2158716/speci...
- asdff 4y ago
  I wonder if you'd eventually get a weird marriage for citizenship market from such legislation. Like say you are a modern millennial couple and both you and your partner don't care about the institution of marriage. Are you going to leave money on the table, or get a huge lump sum for both you and your partner to be legally married to some investors that you might never need to meet in person?
gruez 4y ago
Only a $10k fine? On a 1 million dollar house that works out to 1%, and your house doesn't even get seized, it only gets sold so you keep all the appreciation that occurred during that time. Considering that transaction fees (eg. for the agent) are probably more than 1%, this doesn't seem like a huge impediment.
- robrenaud 4y ago
  > the repayment of the non-Canadian of amounts not greater than the purchase price for the sale The foreigner does not keep any appreciation. https://www.bennettjones.com/Blogs-Section/New-Rules-for-Foreign-Home-Buyers-in-Canada-Come-Into-Force-January-2023-Heres-What-You-Need-to-Know https://www.bennettjones.com/Blogs-Section/New-Rules-for-For...
- angry_octet 4y ago
  ... and you don't legally own the property. The original owner can just return your money and move back in. People can squat on your property and you have no legal right to evict them. You've just created a legal nightmare.
JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> there are fines for helping bypass the laws The law doesn't seem to consider Canadian entities to be non-Canadian. Buying through a local entity thus isn't bypassing the law, but following it.

cainxinth 4y ago

Seems like that will just drive the foreign super rich to ‘buy’ citizenships too. With enough money and in-country fixers/ lobbyists, that’s usually not unobtainable in most countries.

JCharante 4y ago
The downside is the requirement to stay in Canada during that time. Plenty of people don't want to do it so they commit fraud https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2158716/special-report-how-canadian-immigration-fraud-saw-860-rich-chinese https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2158716/speci...
asdff 4y ago
I wonder if you'd eventually get a weird marriage for citizenship market from such legislation. Like say you are a modern millennial couple and both you and your partner don't care about the institution of marriage. Are you going to leave money on the table, or get a huge lump sum for both you and your partner to be legally married to some investors that you might never need to meet in person?

gruez 4y ago

Only a $10k fine? On a 1 million dollar house that works out to 1%, and your house doesn't even get seized, it only gets sold so you keep all the appreciation that occurred during that time. Considering that transaction fees (eg. for the agent) are probably more than 1%, this doesn't seem like a huge impediment.

robrenaud 4y ago
> the repayment of the non-Canadian of amounts not greater than the purchase price for the sale The foreigner does not keep any appreciation. https://www.bennettjones.com/Blogs-Section/New-Rules-for-Foreign-Home-Buyers-in-Canada-Come-Into-Force-January-2023-Heres-What-You-Need-to-Know https://www.bennettjones.com/Blogs-Section/New-Rules-for-For...
angry_octet 4y ago
... and you don't legally own the property. The original owner can just return your money and move back in. People can squat on your property and you have no legal right to evict them. You've just created a legal nightmare.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

> there are fines for helping bypass the laws The law doesn't seem to consider Canadian entities to be non-Canadian. Buying through a local entity thus isn't bypassing the law, but following it.