Property Tax Home Owner Grant: Eligibility, Amount, and How to Apply

The BC home owner grant reduces the property tax bill on your principal residence by $570 to $1,045 each year, depending on where you live and whether you qualify for the additional grant. The province funds it, it applies directly against your municipal or rural property taxes, and you have to apply every year — one grant per property, one grant per couple.

How Much the Grant Is Worth

The basic grant is $570 if your home is in the Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver Regional District, or Fraser Valley Regional District. Everywhere else in B.C., the basic grant is $770.¹

If you qualify for the additional grant (covered below), the amount goes up. It’s $845 in the Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver, and the Fraser Valley, and $1,045 in the rest of the province.²

There’s a floor the grant can’t push your bill below. With the regular grant, you still owe at least $350 in property taxes. With the additional grant, the minimum is $100. So if your tax bill is $500 and you’re entitled to the $570 basic grant, you get $150 of relief, not the full $570, because you still have to pay the $350 floor.¹

Who Qualifies

To receive the grant, you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, live in British Columbia, be the registered owner of the property, and occupy it as your principal residence. Your property’s assessed or partitioned value also has to fall at or under the grant threshold.

Your principal residence is the usual place you make your home — where you live and handle daily affairs like paying bills and receiving mail. The province also looks at whether the address matches your income tax returns, medical services plan, driver’s licence, and vehicle registration.³

You need to be living in the home when you apply. If you bought during the current tax year, you can still claim it as long as the previous owner didn’t already claim it that year, you haven’t claimed a grant on another property that year, and you’re occupying the home as your principal residence when you apply.¹

Qualifying properties are ones assessed and taxed as an improvement: single family dwellings, strata duplexes, strata condominiums, strata townhouses, manufactured homes, and modular homes.¹

You and your spouse can only claim one grant between you each year, even if you own separate properties. The grant attaches to your principal residence, and you only have one.

The Additional Grant for Seniors, Veterans, and People With Disabilities

The additional grant pays several hundred dollars more than the basic amount. You may qualify if any of the following applies to you:

You turned 65 or older during the current calendar year.
You have a disability expected to last at least two years, and you either spend an average of at least $150 per month on help with daily living activities, or you spent at least $2,000 on accessibility modifications to your home.
You live with a spouse or relative who has a qualifying disability in your principal residence.
You are an honourably discharged member of the Canadian Armed Forces.
You are the spouse or relative of a deceased owner who would have qualified for the additional grant.

Age alone qualifies seniors. No medical paperwork is required.¹

Disability Documentation

If you’re claiming the additional grant based on a disability, submit a Form B (Certificate of Health Professional and Property Owner) the first year you apply. You don’t have to resubmit it in later years. The form has to be completed by a qualified health professional: a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner, registered psychologist authorized by the College of Psychologists of B.C., or an occupational therapist authorized by the College of Occupational Therapists of B.C.⁴

The form asks you to confirm you incur at least $150 per month for help with daily living activities, or that you spent at least $2,000 on a qualifying accessibility modification. A modification built into a newly constructed home, or one completed by a previous owner, can count as long as it cost at least $2,000.⁴

Veterans Supplement

Veterans under 65 who qualify for the regular home owner grant but not the additional grant can apply for a separate veterans supplement. You must be an honourably discharged member of the Canadian Armed Forces with an adjusted net income of $32,000 or less, including your shared-income partner’s income. Most qualifying veterans receive a supplement of $275. If your income is between $30,000 and $32,000, you receive half.⁵

If your home is assessed below the threshold and you already qualify for the full additional home owner grant, the province will deny the veterans supplement application because the additional grant already provides more relief.⁵

Property Value Threshold and Phase-Out

The grant threshold for 2026 is $2,075,000. If your property’s assessed or partitioned value is at or below that, you can claim the full grant. Above the threshold, the grant shrinks by $5 for every $1,000 of assessed value over $2,075,000.¹

Eventually the grant reaches zero. The regular grant disappears entirely once assessed value exceeds $2,189,000, or $2,229,000 in northern and rural areas. The additional grant phases out at $2,244,000, or $2,284,000 in northern and rural areas.¹

An example: if your Metro Vancouver home is assessed at $2,125,000, that’s $50,000 over the threshold. Multiply $50,000 by $5 per $1,000, and your grant is reduced by $250, leaving you with $320 of the $570 basic grant.

How to Apply

Apply online at gov.bc.ca/homeownergrant. Have your property tax notice with you. The system asks for your jurisdiction code (the first three digits of your folio number) and roll number, which appear on the notice and must be entered exactly as printed.⁶ Confirm your eligibility and submit. Save the transaction number the system generates in case you need to follow up.³

If you’re claiming the additional grant for a disability, submit your completed Form B along with the online application (first year only). For age-based claims, your date of birth is enough.

For help with an application, the province operates a dedicated phone line at 1-888-355-2700.⁴

Deadlines and Reapplying Each Year

Apply by your property tax payment due date. This varies by municipality but typically falls in early July for most B.C. communities. Missing the deadline means the portion of your taxes the grant would have covered stays owing, and you can face late payment penalties on that balance.

The grant is not automatic. You have to apply every year. Forgetting to reapply is the most common reason people who qualify don’t get it.

If you missed last year’s deadline, you may still be able to file a retroactive application to recover those funds, provided you met all the eligibility criteria at the time. Since 2021, retroactive applications go directly to the province rather than through your municipality.⁷

Penalties for False Claims

Claiming the grant when you don’t qualify carries real consequences. Under the Home Owner Grant Act, anyone who knowingly or recklessly provides false information when applying commits an offence punishable by a fine of up to $10,000. The province has two years from the date of the false application to begin proceedings.²

On top of the fine, you’d owe the full property tax amount the grant improperly reduced, plus interest and late payment penalties. The most common scenario is claiming the grant on a property you rent out rather than live in. If the province audits your claim and finds you weren’t occupying the home as your principal residence, expect to repay the grant with interest.

1
Government of British Columbia. Home Owner Grant
2
BC Laws. Home Owner Grant Act
3
Government of British Columbia. Apply for the Home Owner Grant
4
Government of British Columbia. Certificate of Health Professional and Property Owner – Form B
5
Government of British Columbia. Supplement for Veterans Under 65
6
Government of British Columbia. Sample Rural Tax Notice
7
City of Vancouver. Retroactive Grant