Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit: $7,500 Back for BC Families

The eligible individual also has to be ordinarily living in the home, or be the qualifying individual themselves. So an adult daughter in Burnaby renovating her own home to bring in her mother can claim it. A son in Surrey renovating his parents' home that he also lives in can claim it. A nephew who lives across the city and just pays for the work cannot.

Only one claim per qualifying individual, ever. If your family uses the credit when Mom moves in, you cannot use it again for the same Mom in a different house ten years later. That makes the timing of when you do the renovation worth thinking about carefully.

What a "Secondary Unit" Has to Be

The renovation has to create a true second dwelling inside the home, not just a guest room or a finished basement. The CRA's definition is specific.

• Self-contained. A separate living space, not a shared family room.
• Private entrance. The qualifying individual can come and go without walking through the rest of the house.
• A kitchen. Not a microwave on a counter. A functioning kitchen.
• A bathroom. Full bathroom counts; a powder room with no shower or tub does not.
• A sleeping area. Can be a bedroom, an alcove, or a partitioned space.

The new unit has to be inside (or attached to) the same dwelling. Detached structures cause complications: a fully separate laneway house on its own services might not qualify the same way as an attached suite or a basement conversion. If a laneway home is on your shortlist, get specific advice from your accountant before you commit to a design.

BC's Bill 44: Why the Credit Is Easier to Use Now

Until late 2023, secondary suites and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) were tightly restricted in many BC municipalities. Bill 44 changed that.

Bill 44 required every BC municipality with more than 5,000 residents to update its zoning bylaws by June 30, 2024, to permit small-scale multi-unit housing. The headline rule: at least one secondary suite or ADU is now permitted on all single-family and duplex lots across BC. Larger lots and lots near transit must allow even more units.

For families thinking about an MHRTC renovation, this matters in three ways.

• Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey all updated zoning to comply. A basement suite or attached in-law unit that would have needed a rezoning application a few years ago is often now permitted under the base zoning.
• Local building permits still apply. Bill 44 permits the use; it does not bypass the BC Building Code, fire separation, egress, parking, or servicing rules. Budget time for permit drawings and inspections.
• Existing unpermitted suites are not automatically legal. If you already have a basement suite that was never permitted, work with your municipality to bring it up to code as part of the MHRTC reno. CRA needs receipts, and your municipality needs a final occupancy permit.

If you are still in the property-search phase, the Zealty map search lets you filter by lot size, which is a fast way to flag homes large enough to support a real suite addition rather than just a basement conversion.

Eligible Expenses (and What the CRA Will Reject)

Qualifying expenses are the ones directly tied to creating the secondary unit.

• Building materials: lumber, drywall, concrete, insulation, fixtures, finishes.
• Permits and inspection fees paid to the municipality.
• Professional fees: architects, designers, structural engineers.
• Trades labour: general contractor, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC.
• Equipment rentals used on the job.
• Permanent fixtures built into the suite, such as cabinetry and built-in plumbing.

The CRA explicitly excludes a long list of costs, and these are the line items families most often try (and fail) to claim.

• Your own labour and your own tools. If you swing the hammer yourself, those hours are worth nothing on the return.
• Household appliances: fridge, stove, washer, dryer, even built-in microwaves. These can sit in the suite but they do not count toward the $50,000.
• Home entertainment devices, security monitoring, gardening, outdoor maintenance.
• Financing costs: mortgage interest, HELOC interest, loan fees.
• Goods or services from a related person (a sibling who is a contractor, for example) unless that person is registered for GST/HST. This is the rule that catches the most families. If your brother-in-law is doing the framing on the side, his invoice is not a qualifying expense.
• Anything you also claim under the Medical Expense Tax Credit or Home Accessibility Tax Credit. No double-dipping. You pick one credit per expense.

Keep every receipt, every contractor invoice, and every permit document. The CRA can request supporting documents for up to six years.

What the Renovation Actually Costs in BC

The credit caps qualifying expenses at $50,000, but real BC suite renovations almost always exceed that. The credit refunds 15% of the first $50,000; you fund the rest.

Rough BC ranges in 2026, based on what local builders and architects are quoting:

• Basement legal suite conversion in an existing house with rough plumbing already in place: $75,000 to $180,000.
• Full basement dig-out plus suite in an older home with low ceiling height: $200,000 to $350,000.
• Attached in-law suite addition on a single-family lot: $250,000 to $500,000 depending on size and finish.
• Detached laneway home in Vancouver, Burnaby, or New Westminster: $400,000 to $650,000 turnkey.

The MHRTC handles a meaningful slice of the smaller projects and a smaller slice of the bigger ones. It is not a reason on its own to build a suite. It is a reason to do work you were already considering.

How the Math Works on a Real Vancouver Example

Consider a family in East Vancouver. Their detached house, like the Vancouver detached market in general, is worth well over the GVR median of $2,098,000. They build a 700-square-foot legal basement suite for Mom, who is 71.

• Permits, drawings, engineering: $9,500
• Excavation and underpinning to gain ceiling height: $42,000
• Framing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, drywall, finishes: $78,000
• Kitchen cabinetry (built-in): $14,000
• Bathroom: $11,500
• Appliances (not eligible): $6,500

Total project: roughly $161,500. Eligible expenses for MHRTC: about $155,000, capped at $50,000. Credit: $7,500.

Mom's old condo sells for $750,000. She contributes a share of it toward the renovation, the family books the credit on the return for the year the work finished, and they file the receipts with their tax preparer. The eligible relation living in the home (an adult child, in this case) is the one who claims it.

Where to Look for the Right Home

If you are still shopping for the home you will renovate, a few BC search filters matter more than usual.

• Lot size. Anything under about 3,000 square feet limits your options for an attached addition or laneway. Filter aggressively.
• Basement ceiling height. Older Vancouver homes often have 6-foot-something basements. Underpinning is expensive. List view searches on Zealty include basement-height data where it is provided in the listing.
• Existing unauthorized suites. Common in Surrey and East Vancouver. Cheaper to bring an existing suite up to code than to build from scratch, but verify with the municipality before banking on it.
• Separate entrances. A side door or walk-out basement saves thousands of dollars on the framing budget.

The Zealty Strata Browser is the wrong tool here. For detached and duplex homes that suit multigenerational renovations, the map search with custom polygons (so you can draw the exact neighbourhood near the family) is the better starting point.

Bottom Line

The MHRTC is one of the few federal credits genuinely designed for BC's housing reality. Detached prices are high, family budgets are stretched, and aging parents need a place to land. A self-contained suite in the home you already own avoids a second mortgage, a second property transfer tax, and a second strata.

The credit will not pay for the renovation. It will pay for the permits, drawings, and one trade. Treat it as a useful offset on a decision you are already making for the family, not as the reason to make the decision.

Start the home search on the BC list view with live MLS data refreshed throughout the day, or use the custom polygon map to draw the exact area you want near work, school, or extended family.