If I buy a home with my partner, do we both qualify as first-time buyers?
Each buyer's first-time status is assessed independently. If you have never owned a home and your partner has previously owned one, you qualify as a first-time buyer but your partner does not. For the Ontario land transfer tax rebate, this means the rebate is prorated — you receive the portion of the rebate that corresponds to your ownership share, not the full rebate.
For the federal Home Buyers' Plan RRSP withdrawal, if either you or your spouse or common-law partner owned a qualifying home that you occupied in the current year or the preceding four years, neither of you qualifies under the spousal definition — even if the other partner never owned one. This is a stricter definition than the LTT rebate.
For the First Home Savings Account, each qualifying individual has their own FHSA and contribution room — there is no joint FHSA. Both partners can each contribute and withdraw, as long as both independently meet the first-time buyer criteria.
Key takeaways
- Each buyer's eligibility is assessed individually, not as a unit.
- A mixed-status purchase (one qualifies, one does not) may result in a prorated LTT rebate.
- The HBP has stricter spousal-ownership rules than the LTT rebate.
- Both partners can each hold their own FHSA if both independently qualify.