When I buy a home in a land-lease community, what exactly do I own versus what I'm just leasing?

You own the physical home itself outright — the structure you buy and can sell, insure, and pass on like any other significant personal asset. What you don't own is the land underneath it. The site the home sits on is leased from the community's operator under a tenancy governed by Part X of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, meaning your right to keep the home there depends on maintaining that site lease, not on any ownership interest in the land itself.

This split matters in practical ways. You can generally sell the home to someone else, but that buyer also needs the site lease assigned to them, subject to the operator's reasonable approval. You're responsible for the home's condition and, typically, its own insurance, while the operator remains responsible for the land, common areas, and often core community infrastructure. And because you don't hold title to real property, transactions involving the home don't work exactly like a typical house or condo closing — there's a purchase agreement for the home and a separate lease arrangement for the site. Anyone new to this kind of community should get clear, in writing, on precisely what's included in the home purchase versus what remains the operator's land before committing to buy.