CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Rachel V Hutton, Michael L Dyck, Mario Paura and Miguel Manzano, Stikeman Elliott LLP
imposed to target owners who own real estate that is neither their principal residence nor made available for long-term rental, to encourage rent - al of underused residential properties in major urban centres. The annual tax rates in Toronto and Ottawa for 2023 were 1% of assessed value (in Toronto, the rate was 3% in 2024) and in Brit - ish Columbia, the rate varies from 0.5% to 2% of the property’s assessed value. The federal gov - ernment has additionally passed Bill C-8, con - taining the “Underused Housing Tax Act” , with a 1% annual tax on the value of certain residential property owned by non-permanent residents or non-citizens considered to be vacant or under - The Competition Bureau has targeted competi - tor property controls which restrict the use of commercial real estate. Exclusivity clauses and restrictive covenants regarding use may, under certain circumstances, be considered as anti-competitive behaviour and subject the parties involved to fines and penalties. These new amendments to the Competition Act allow the Competition Bureau to take enforcement action on competitor property controls in exist - ing agreements. Since the amendments to the Competition Act came into force in December 2024, there is much uncertainty in the Canadian market as to how these new provisions will be applied. Expropriation Changes to the expropriation legislation in Que - bec have greatly reduced the parameters under which compensation for expropriation can be made by the expropriated party. In particular, the expropriating authority will only need to consider the actual authorised use, as opposed used, effective as of 1 January 2022. Competition Bureau Guidelines on Commercial Real Estate Restrictive Covenants
to the potential best use, when determining the compensation to be awarded. Transparency and Disclosure Requirements Ontario has also imposed onerous disclosure requirements as part of its land transfer tax regime, including details of shareholdings and beneficial ownership for transfers of agricultural land and certain residential properties. Similarly, in British Columbia, legislation exists to increase transparency of hidden (beneficial) ownership of real estate. A publicly accessible registry of indirect owners of land came into effect on 30 November 2020, and became accessible to the public on 30 April 2021. While certain informa - tion is publicly available on such registry, more sensitive information is only available to law enforcement/government agencies. Disclosure of these material interest-holders is required on In Quebec, all municipalities, intermunicipal boards and transit authorities were recently giv - en powers that used to be only available to the City of Montreal to acquire properties, notably for the purposes of social or affordable housing. After some heavy backlash from developers, the City of Montreal has recently softened the social/ affordable housing obligations for new projects. Protection of Agricultural Lands in Quebec Having seen a global rise in the purchase of agricultural lands by conglomerates and foreign investors, the Quebec government will be imple - menting legislation to an already strict regime which will render it even more difficult for invest - ment funds or non-Quebec residents to acquire agricultural lands. Moreover, it will become extremely difficult to obtain authorisations from governmental authorities to use agricultural lands for purposes other than agriculture. a retroactive and ongoing basis. Social or Affordable Housing
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