The Foreign Buyer Rules, Currently
Two regimes, one transaction. Ottawa prohibits; Victoria taxes. The federal Act says certain buyers may not buy at all, on pain of a fine and a forced sale. The provincial rule says they may, at twenty per cent more. The definitions differ, the expiry dates differ, and qualifying out of one is no answer to the other.
What the federal Act prohibits. Section 4(1): "it is prohibited for a non-Canadian to purchase, directly or indirectly, any residential property." Residential property is narrow, a detached house or similar building of not more than three dwelling units, or a semi-detached house, rowhouse unit, residential condominium unit or similar premises within a building. A fourplex is not caught. Purchase is broad: section 4 of the Regulations catches any acquisition of a legal or equitable interest, conditional or not, but excludes interests arising from death, divorce, separation or gift, a rental, a pre-Act trust, enforcement of a security, and, since March 2023, acquisition for development.
The geography clause, and which side Langley falls on. Section 3(1) of the Regulations prescribes out of that definition "a property that is located in an area of Canada that is not within either a census agglomeration or a census metropolitan area", one sentence that removes most of rural and northern British Columbia from the ban. The boundaries are Statistics Canada's, pegged to the Standard Geographical Classification 2021, and they are not the Province's tax boundaries. On the reference map for census metropolitan area 933, both Langley DM and Langley CY sit inside the Vancouver CMA.
Who sits outside it. A non-Canadian is an individual who is not a citizen, a registered Indian or a permanent resident; an entity formed outside Canada; or a privately held Canadian entity controlled by one of those, control meaning ten per cent of equity or votes since March 2023 raised it from three. Permanent residents are not caught at all. Section 4(2) exempts protected persons under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act; a non-Canadian purchasing with a spouse or common-law partner who is a citizen, registered Indian, permanent resident or qualifying temporary resident; holders of accredited diplomatic or consular passports; safe-haven temporary residents; and eligible refugee claimants.
The temporary resident tests are arithmetic. Section 5 of the Regulations gives two routes. A student at a designated learning institution must have filed all required income tax returns for each of the five taxation years before the purchase year, have been physically present in Canada at least 244 days in each of the five preceding calendar years, buy at not more than $500,000, and not have purchased more than one residential property. A work permit holder needs 183 days or more of validity remaining at the date of purchase, and again not more than one property. The workers' earlier tax-filing test went in March 2023.
A breach does not unwind the sale. Section 5 of the Act is explicit: "The contravention of section 4 does not affect the validity of the sale." The title stands. Section 6(1) creates a summary conviction offence carrying a fine of not more than $10,000, reaching every person who counsels, induces, aids or abets a prohibited purchase knowingly, the agent, the lawyer, the notary. Section 7 lets the Minister apply to the superior court, after conviction, for an order to sell, and section 7 of the Regulations sets the waterfall: costs and unpaid fines, then others entitled, then the non-Canadian repaid "an amount that is not greater than the purchase price they paid", then the rest to the Receiver General.
The expiry date, which has moved once. The repeal is not in the Act. Section 236 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1 repeals it, and subsection 237(2) timed that to the second anniversary of coming into force on 1 January 2023, so, 1 January 2025. Section 149 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1 (royal assent 20 June 2024) delayed the repeal by two years, and the Department of Finance release of 4 February 2024 puts it plainly: the ban "currently set to expire on January 1, 2025, will be extended to January 1, 2027." The operative date is 1 January 2027, and as at 25 August 2026 no further extension has been enacted or introduced.
The provincial twenty per cent, and the clocks on getting it back. The additional tax is twenty per cent of the fair market value of the foreign entity's proportionate share of the residential portion, above the ordinary property transfer tax. It applies in five regional districts, Capital, Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver, Central Okanagan, Nanaimo, and the Province's list, revised 20 June 2025, names both "Langley (City)" and "Langley (District Municipality)". Not Tsawwassen treaty lands. A foreign national is anyone who is not a citizen or permanent resident; a foreign corporation is one not incorporated in Canada, or incorporated here and foreign-controlled unless listed on a Canadian exchange; a taxable trustee can be a citizen holding for a foreign beneficiary. Exemptions are few: a confirmed B.C. Provincial Nominee taking title as an individual for a principal residence, once only, plus certain Canadian-controlled limited partnerships and investment trusts. The refund is stricter, become a permanent resident or citizen within one year of registration, move in within 92 days, live there a continuous full year, claim no Nominee exemption, then apply after the first anniversary of moving in and before eighteen months from registration.
Sourced from the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act and its Regulations (SOR/2022-250, as amended by SOR/2023-66) on the Justice Laws Website, both current to 21 June 2026; the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1; the Department of Finance Canada announcement of 4 February 2024; Statistics Canada's Standard Geographical Classification 2021 and its reference map for census metropolitan area 933; and the Province of British Columbia's additional property transfer tax, B.C. areas, refunds and property transfer tax pages, all verified 25 August 2026. This report describes and informs; it is not legal, tax or immigration advice, and a specific status, a specific entity and a specific completion date deserve specific verification by counsel. Want to know whether a buyer on your file is prohibited, taxed, both or neither before the offer goes firm?