How to participate in the Home Buyers' Plan (HBP)

The Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) is a program that allows you to withdraw funds from your Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) to buy or build a qualifying home for yourself or for a related person with a disability. The HBP allows you to pay back the withdrawn funds within a 15-year period.

You can withdraw funds from more than one RRSP as long as you are the owner of each RRSP account. Your RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on withdrawn amounts of $35,000 or less. Some RRSPs, such as locked-in or group RRSPs, do not allow you to withdraw funds from them.

Certain conditions must be met in order to be eligible to participate in the HBP, including the following:

• you must be considered a first-time home buyer
• you must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home, either for yourself or for a related person with a disability
• you must be a resident of Canada when you withdraw funds from your RRSPs under the HBP and up to the time a qualifying home is bought or built
• you must intend to occupy the qualifying home as your principal place of residence within one year after buying or building it. If you buy or build a qualifying home for a related person with a disability, or help a related person with a disability to buy or build a qualifying home, you must intend that the related person with a disability occupies the qualifying home as their principal place of residence
• in all cases, if you have previously participated in the HBP, you may be able to do so again if your repayable HBP balance on January 1st of the year of the withdrawal is zero and you meet all the other HBP eligibility conditions.

On this page

• Do you meet the HBP eligibility conditions?
• Do you meet the RRSP withdrawal conditions?

Do you meet the HBP eligibility conditions?

• You must be considered a first-time home buyer.
• You must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home for yourself.

Or

• You must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home for a related person with a disability, or to help a related person with a disability buy or build a qualifying home (obtaining a pre-approved mortgage does not satisfy this condition).

To participate in the HBP, you must meet all HBP eligibility conditions that apply to you.

Are you a first-time home buyer?

Unless you are a person with a disability or you are helping a related person with a disability to buy or build a qualifying home, you have to be a first-time home buyer to withdraw funds from your RRSP(s) to buy or build a qualifying home.

You are considered a first-time home buyer if, in the four-year period, you did not occupy a home that you or your current spouse or common-law partner owned.

The four-year period

Begins on January 1st of the fourth year before the year you withdraw the funds from your RRSP.

Ends 31 days before the date you withdraw the funds.

For example, if you withdraw funds on July 31, 2022, the four-year period begins on January 1, 2018 and ends on June 30, 2022.

Breakdown of a Marriage or Common-Law Partnership

Generally, you will not be prevented from participating in the HBP if you do not meet the first-time home buyer requirement, provided that you live separate and apart from your spouse or common-law partner for a period of at least 90 days as a result of a breakdown in your marriage or common-law partnership. You will be able to make a withdrawal under the HBP if you live separate and apart from your spouse or common-law partner at the time of the withdrawal and began to live separate and apart in the year in which the withdrawal is made, or any time in the four preceding years. However, in the case where your principal place of residence is a home owned and occupied by a new spouse or common-law partner, you will not be able to make an HBP withdrawal under these rules.

You will be required to dispose of their previous principal place of residence no later than two years after the end of the year in which the HBP withdrawal is made. The requirement to dispose of the previous principal place of residence will be waived if you buy out the share of the residence owned by your spouse or common-law partner. The existing rule that individuals may not acquire the home more than 30 days before making the HBP withdrawal will also be waived in this circumstance.

Existing HBP rules will otherwise generally apply. For example, your outstanding HBP balance must be nil at the beginning of the year in which you make an HBP withdrawal.

This measure applies to HBP withdrawals made after 2019.

Can you participate in the HBP later?

If you are not considered a first-time buyer now, you may be considered a first-time home buyer later, once the four-year period has passed.

For example, if in 2017 you sold the home you lived in before, you may be able to participate in 2022, or if you sold the home in 2018, you may be able to participate in 2023. 

Are you building or buying a qualifying home?

You are considered to buy or build a qualifying home if:

• you buy or build it, or you are considered as buying or building it, before October 1st of the year after the year of the withdrawal
• you buy or build it, alone or with one or more individuals

If you do not buy or build the qualifying home before October 1st of the year after the year you withdrew the funds, you can:

• cancel your participation in the HBP
• buy or build a different home (replacement property) before October 1st of the year after the year you withdrew the funds

A replacement property has to meet the same conditions as a qualifying home. To inform us that you are buying or building a replacement property, send a letter to one of the following addresses:

If your residential address is in Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories or in the following cities in the province of Quebec (Montréal, Québec City, Laval, Sherbrooke, Gatineau and Longueuil), send your request to:

Revenue Canada Agency
Sudbury Tax Centre
Pension Workflow Team
Post Office Box 20000, Station A
Sudbury ON  P3A 5C1

If your residential address is in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or a location in the province of Quebec not listed under the Sudbury Tax Centre, send your request to:

Revenue Canada Agency
Winnipeg Tax Centre
Pension Workflow Team
Post Office Box 14000, Station Main
Winnipeg MB  R3C 3M2

Provide your name, address, and social insurance number, as well as the address of the replacement property. You have to say in the letter that you intend to occupy the replacement property as your principal place of residence within one year after you buy or build it.

Extensions for buying or building a qualifying home or replacement property

If you do not buy or build the qualifying home you indicated on Form T1036 (or a replacement property) before October 1st of the year after the year you withdrew the funds, we still consider you to have met the deadline if either of the following situations applies:

• You had a written agreement, in effect on October 1st of the year after the year you withdrew the funds, to buy a qualifying home or replacement property, and you buy the property before October 1st of the second year after the year of the withdrawal. In addition, you were a Canadian resident up to the time of the purchase.
• You had paid an amount after the date of the first withdrawal and before October 1st of the year after the year you withdrew the funds to the contractors or suppliers (with whom you deal at arm's length) for materials for the home being built, or towards its construction, that was at least equal to the total of all withdrawals under the HBP. 

Participating in the HBP for a related person with a disability

Under the HBP, the home must better fit the needs of the disabled person than their current home. You can withdraw funds from your RRSPs under the HBP to buy or build a home, if:

• you are a person with a disability
• you are buying or building a home for a related person with a disability
• you are helping a related person with a disability to buy or build a home

Regardless of the situation, you are responsible for making sure that all applicable HBP conditions are met.

If, at any time during your participation period, a condition is not met, your withdrawal will not be considered eligible and it will have to be included as income on your income tax and benefit return for the year it is received.

Is my Home Buyers’ Plan balance up to date?

(If you have never participated in the HBP this section does not apply.)

If you have previously participated in the HBP, you may be able to do so again if:

• your HBP balance is zero on January 1st of the year during which you plan on withdrawing funds under the HBP
• you meet all the other HBP conditions that apply to your situation

Your HBP balance from your last participation is zero when the total of your yearly designated HBP repayments and any amounts included in your income (because no designated HBP repayment was made as required for a given year) equals the total eligible withdrawals you made from your RRSP under your participation in the HBP.

Do you meet the RRSP withdrawal conditions?

You can withdraw a single amount or make a series of withdrawals in the same calendar year. However, you cannot withdraw more than $35,000.

To withdraw funds from your RRSPs under the HBP, fill out Form T1036, Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP. In certain situations, we will consider extensions for buying or building a qualifying home or replacement property.

Your RRSP contributions must remain in the RRSP for at least 90 days before you can withdraw them under the HBP, or they may not be deductible for any year.

Your RRSP deduction may be affected by your participation in the HBP

If you participate in the HBP, certain rules limit the deduction of your RRSP contributions made during the 89-day period before you withdrew the funds under the HBP. Under these rules, you may not be able to deduct part or all of the contributions made during this period for any year.

The following conditions must also be met in order to be eligible to participate in the HBP:

• You have to be a resident of Canada at the time of the withdrawal.
• You have to receive or be considered to have received, all withdrawals in the same calendar year.
• You cannot withdraw more than $35,000.
• Only the person who is entitled to receive payments from the RRSP can withdraw funds from an RRSP. You can withdraw funds from more than one RRSP as long as you are the owner of each RRSP. Your RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on withdrawal amounts of $35,000 or less.
• Normally, you will not be allowed to withdraw funds from a locked-in RRSP or a group RRSP.
• Your RRSP contributions must stay in the RRSP for at least 90 days before you can withdraw them under the HBP. If this is not the case, the contributions may not be deductible for any year.
• Neither you nor your spouse or common-law partner or the related person with a disability that you buy or build the qualifying home for can own the qualifying home more than 30 days before the withdrawal is made.
• You have to buy or build a qualifying home for yourself, for a related person with a disability, or to help a related person with a disability buy or build a qualifying home before October 1st of the year after the year of the withdrawal.
• You have to fill out Form T1036, Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP for each eligible withdrawal. 

To determine the part of the contributions you, your spouse or common-law partner made to an RRSP that are not deductible for any year, you can use this chart to make the calculation.

Are you a resident of Canada?

You have to be a resident of Canada when you receive funds from your RRSPs under the HBP and up to the time you buy or build a qualifying home. For more information about residency status, see Residency status or call 1-800-959-8281 (toll free within Canada and the United States), or 613-940-8495 (from outside Canada and the United States). We accept collect calls by automated response. You may hear a beep and experience a normal connection delay.

If you become a non-resident after a qualifying home is bought or built, you cannot cancel your participation in the HBP. However, special rules will apply to the repayment of your HBP balance. For more information, see the HBP participant becomes a non-resident.

Forms and publications

• Form T1036, Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP
• Schedule 7, RRSP, PRPP, and SPP Unused Contributions, Transfers, and HBP or LLP Activities
• RC471, Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) Cancellation