BC Home Owner Grant 2026: Amounts, Threshold, 2027 Cut

BC Home Owner Grant Amounts for 2026 and 2027

There are 4 grant amounts in 2026, and they shrink to 2 in 2027. The table shows the maximum for each, from the Ministry of Finance's January 2026 bulletin and the B.C. government's current grant pages.

Sources: B.C. Ministry of Finance, information bulletin, January 2, 2026 (opens in a new tab); B.C. government, Home owner grant (opens in a new tab) (updated September 22, 2026) and Grant for seniors (opens in a new tab) (updated July 3, 2026).

The grant isn't a cheque. It's a credit on your property tax notice that reduces what you owe, and you have to claim it each year. The B.C. government notes that grant amounts may be adjusted so that you still pay the minimum tax: at least $350 before the regular grant, or $100 before the additional grant. Those minimums fund services like road maintenance and police.

The 2027 change. According to the Budget 2026 Budget and Fiscal Plan, the northern and rural home owner benefit was introduced in 2011 to offset the consumer carbon tax and "provided an additional $200 to eligible home owner grant recipients who live outside the Capital, Metro Vancouver, and Fraser Valley regional districts". With the consumer carbon tax gone since April 1, 2025, the budget repeals the benefit effective January 1, 2027. The Province's Table 2.1 puts the taxpayer impact at $24 million in 2026/27 and $97 million a year in 2027/28 and 2028/29.

Specifically, a senior in Kamloops or Prince George who gets $1,045 in 2026 will get $845 in 2027, a 19% drop, and a regular claimant outside the south coast goes from $770 to $570, a 26% drop. Local governments in the north have asked the Province to reverse the decision, including through a resolution sent to the Union of BC Municipalities' September 2026 convention, but as of October 29, 2026 the B.C. government's own grant page still says the $200 "has been eliminated".

The 2026 Threshold and Phase-Out

The 2026 threshold is $2,075,000, which is $100,000 lower than 2025's $2,175,000. If your home is assessed at or under it, you can claim the full grant. Above it, the grant falls by $5 for every $1,000 of assessed value over the threshold.

Source: B.C. government, Home owner grant page, grant threshold section, and the Ministry of Finance bulletin of January 2, 2026.

A worked example: a home in Burnaby assessed at $2,125,000 is $50,000 over the threshold, so the regular grant falls by $250, from $570 to $320. The same home owned by a 70-year-old would get $845 minus $250, or $595.

Partitioning can help. If your property has your home plus at least one other self-contained residence, such as a laneway home or another unit in a duplex, triplex or fourplex, you can apply to have the assessed value divided by the number of residences. A suite inside your own house doesn't count. The application is the Home Owner Grant Partitioning application linked from the threshold section of the grant page.

What about 2027? The threshold is set each year from BC Assessment values. The 2026 threshold was announced on January 2, 2026; the 2027 figure hadn't been published as of October 29, 2026.

Who Qualifies, and Who Doesn't

The B.C. government lists 5 core conditions. You must:

1. Be the registered owner of the home (or a qualifying spouse or relative of a deceased owner).
2. Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
3. Live in B.C.
4. Occupy the home as your principal residence, taxed as an improvement: a house, strata duplex, condo or townhouse, or a manufactured or modular home.
5. Have an assessed or partitioned value under the threshold (or within the phase-out range for a partial grant).

The additional grant. You can get the higher amount if you're 65 or older in the current year, an eligible veteran, a person with a disability, living with a spouse or relative with a disability, or the spouse or relative of a deceased owner who'd have qualified. The person who qualifies must be named as the applicant. Seniors' groups looking for community project money, rather than tax relief, should see our New Horizons for Seniors Program guide. According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2025 nearly 500,000 seniors and more than 19,000 people with disabilities received the extra support.

The disability route has 2 options. Option A covers owners designated as a person with disabilities who receive provincial disability or hardship assistance. Option B covers homes where you, your spouse or a relative living with you has a disability and you either pay at least $150 a month ($1,800 a year) for help with daily living, or have spent at least $2,000 on qualifying home modifications. Option B needs a Certificate of Health Professional and Property Owner (Form B, FIN 74), which you keep on file. The B.C. government is clear that CPP disability doesn't qualify you on its own.

Who shouldn't count on it:

• Owners of a second home, cottage or rental. You can have only one principal residence, and you can't choose which home it is if you own more than one.
• Homeowners who pay property tax to a First Nation. The B.C. government says to contact the First Nation directly for an equivalent benefit.
• First home buyers looking for a cash grant. B.C.'s grant only reduces property tax. The cash "First Home Owner Grant" people find online is an Australian scheme, covered in our First Home Owner Grant Australia guide.
• Non-residents and owners who aren't citizens or permanent residents.
• New buyers whose seller already claimed this year. If the previous owner claimed the grant for the current year, you can't.
• Owners of homes assessed above the zero point (from $2,189,000 to $2,284,000, depending on area and grant type), unless the low income grant supplement or partitioning applies.

Grantsights Analysis of Home Owner Grants by Region

Grantsights analysis of Schedule 706 for 2024 shows $765.5 million in home owner grants claimed through the tax bills of the 156 municipalities that reported (5 of B.C.'s 161 didn't submit data). Metro Vancouver took the largest share in dollars, but the grant mattered far more to tax bills in the Interior and on Vancouver Island.

Source: Province of B.C., Local Government Statistics, Schedule 706, Taxes Imposed and Collected during the year 2024 (column "Home Owner Grants Claimed" divided by "Current Year Tax Levy"). Grantsights excluded 7 municipalities that reported $0 in grants (including Maple Ridge, Revelstoke and Tofino), which looks like a reporting difference rather than no claims, and the District of Kent, whose reported grants ($12.8 million on a $14.3 million levy) look like a reporting error. The tax levy covers all property classes and all taxes the municipality collects, so the share isn't the share of any one homeowner's bill.

The south coast versus the rest. Grouping the same figures by the 2026 grant areas, municipalities in the Capital, Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley districts claimed $461.8 million, equal to 5.3% of their tax levy. The 111 reporting municipalities elsewhere claimed $290.8 million, or 9.9% of their levy. That's why the 2027 repeal lands hardest outside the south coast: the grant is a bigger slice of the tax base there, and those are exactly the owners losing $200.

The biggest municipal totals were Surrey ($76.1 million), Vancouver ($63.4 million), Burnaby ($35.9 million), Richmond ($35.1 million) and Kelowna ($33.6 million). In Vancouver the grant equalled just 2.9% of the levy, and in West Vancouver 1.2%, most likely because high assessed values push more homes past the threshold, though the statistics don't show that directly. In Kelowna it was 9.7% and in Kamloops 10.5%.

The provincial total. According to the Budget 2026 tax expenditure table, the home owner grant cost $914 million in 2024/25, is estimated at $931 million for 2025/26 and is planned at $925 million for 2026/27. The difference from the $765.5 million in municipal returns is likely rural-area claims, where the Province collects tax, plus the municipalities that didn't report. The budget's revenue assumptions show the grant falling to $871 million in 2027/28, the first full year without the $200 benefit.

How to Apply, Step by Step

You must apply every year, and only one owner can claim per property. Here's how the B.C. government says to do it.

1. Find your jurisdiction and roll number. They're on your property tax notice, the BC Assessment notice mailed in January, or the BC Assessment website (opens in a new tab).
2. Have your SIN ready. The online form asks for it, and the B.C. government says your information is encrypted when you enter it. Only enter it on the gov.bc.ca application.
3. Apply online from the apply page (opens in a new tab), or by phone at 1-888-355-2700 (automated, 24 hours a day; agents Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm), or in person at a Service BC location. Anyone with your permission can apply for you.
4. Keep your confirmation number and check your status online. If the Province needs documents, it'll contact you, and you upload them through the secure eTaxBC portal.
5. Pay the rest of your property tax by your due date.

Timing. You can apply any time in the tax year, but the B.C. government says the best time is after your tax notice arrives and before your due date, which the Ministry of Finance says is "typically in July". If you apply before your tax notice is out, the claim stays pending until it is. The grant counts as a payment towards your taxes, so claiming late means late-payment penalties on the unclaimed amount. For rural properties taxed by the Province, the important dates page lists July 2 as the penalty-free deadline, a 5% penalty on July 3 and another 5% on November 1. The final deadline is December 31.

Paying through your mortgage lender doesn't cover it. The B.C. government says your financial institution won't apply for the grant on your behalf, even if it pays your property taxes.

Forgot last year? Use the retroactive grant (opens in a new tab) process: same online form, selecting the previous tax year. The 2025 grant must be received by December 31, 2026. You must have qualified on December 31 of last year and still own the home.

What the B.C. Government Doesn't Tell You About the Home Owner Grant

The official pages are thorough on rules, but they leave out what those rules mean when you're filling in the form in 2026.

It's a yearly claim, not a status. There's no automatic renewal. Every year you don't apply, you pay $570 to $1,045 more property tax than you need to.

Claims are audited for 7 years. According to the B.C. government, the Province can ask for proof of eligibility for up to 7 years, and a Notice of Disentitlement means repaying the grant. A red flag for audits is claiming on a home that isn't your real principal residence; the B.C. government says that's generally the address on your tax return, MSP, driver's licence and vehicle registration. If those don't match the property, fix them or don't claim.

Separated couples need 90 days. You can each claim a grant on separate homes only after living apart for at least 90 days because of the breakdown, or under a court order.

The phase-out hits more homes in the Lower Mainland than headlines suggest. In Vancouver the grant equalled 2.9% of the municipal levy in 2024, against 9.9% outside the south coast, as the analysis above shows. If you're near $2.075 million, check your assessment notice before assuming you qualify.

The low income supplement isn't automatic. If your home is above the threshold and you're a senior, a person with a disability or a qualifying veteran's spouse with adjusted net income of $32,000 or less, you can apply for a low income grant supplement. Most qualifying seniors get a cheque for $845 ($1,045 in northern and rural areas in 2026; $845 everywhere from 2027). It's a separate paper form (FIN 65) mailed by December 31, and it's denied if your home qualifies for the full grant.

The 2027 cut changes your bill, not just the grant. If you're outside the 3 southern regional districts, expect your 2027 net property tax to rise by up to $200 even if your municipality holds its rate flat. Small business owners facing the same squeeze on a commercial property won't get any home owner grant on it; our BC small business grants guide covers what's available to them instead.

Property Tax Deferment: When the Grant Isn't Enough

The grant comes first. If you still can't pay the rest, B.C.'s property tax deferment program lends you the money, secured by a lien on your home. You need to have lived in B.C. for at least 1 year and paid all past taxes.

Source: B.C. government, property tax deferment eligibility (opens in a new tab) and interest and fees (opens in a new tab) pages.

Honest take: deferment got more expensive in 2026. Taxes deferred for 2026 onward carry compound interest at prime plus 2%, where older deferrals for seniors were simple interest below prime. It's still useful for owners with plenty of equity and little cash, but it's a loan that keeps growing until you repay it. Claim the grant even if you defer, since the grant reduces what you borrow.

Scams and Fake Payment Sites

The home owner grant form asks for your SIN, which makes it a target. Protect yourself with 4 rules:

• Only apply on gov.bc.ca or by calling 1-888-355-2700. Nobody needs to charge you to claim the grant; anyone you trust can do it with your permission, for free.
• Watch for copycat payment sites. The Province's PayBC site carries a warning that "an identical fake website has been created by malicious actors" to steal personal and card details. Check you're on pay.gov.bc.ca (opens in a new tab) before paying anything.
• Don't click links in unexpected texts or emails saying your grant is "on hold" or a refund is waiting. PayBC's alert says not to click unfamiliar links that ask for personal or card information. Go to the B.C. government site yourself.
• Report fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (opens in a new tab) and your local police.

Grantsights will never contact you about your grant and has no access to your application.

Other Help Worth Checking

• Other money in B.C.: our BC small business grants guide covers provincial and federal programs for owners, and our BC gaming grants guide covers Community Gaming Grants for non-profits.
• Seniors' groups: the federal New Horizons for Seniors Program guide explains grants for community projects led by or for seniors.
• Students in the family: our Canada Student Grant guide covers federal grants for 2026-27, which StudentAid BC assesses automatically.
• Searching for a "home owner grant" in Australia? That's a different scheme for first home buyers; see our First Home Owner Grant Australia guide.

Sources Checked

All sources were read or downloaded on October 29, 2026:

• B.C. government, Home owner grant (opens in a new tab) (updated September 22, 2026), Apply (opens in a new tab), Retroactive (opens in a new tab), Seniors (opens in a new tab), People with disabilities (opens in a new tab), Veterans (opens in a new tab), Low income grant supplement for seniors (opens in a new tab) and Important dates (opens in a new tab)
• B.C. Ministry of Finance, Homeowner grant provides tax relief for British Columbians (opens in a new tab) (January 2, 2026)
• Province of B.C., Budget 2026 Budget and Fiscal Plan (opens in a new tab) (February 17, 2026): Table 2.1, Home Owner Grant Act tax measure, Table A1.3 and Table A5
• Province of B.C., Local Government Statistics, Schedule 706, 2024 (opens in a new tab)
• B.C. government, property tax deferment eligibility (opens in a new tab) and interest and fees (opens in a new tab)
• Province of B.C., PayBC (opens in a new tab) phishing alert; Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre