Pre-Construction vs Resale Condo in North York: How the Rules Differ

Two kinds of purchase

If you are looking at new condos in North York, you are choosing between two kinds of purchase. You buy a pre-construction condo from a developer before the building is finished. You buy a resale condo from its current owner, in a building that already exists.

Ontario’s rules treat the two differently. The pre-construction buyer gets a 10-day cooling-off period, deposit protection through Tarion and a set of HST rebates to work through, all written for purchases from a developer. The resale buyer can read a status certificate that shows how the building is run today.

We compare the rules here. We do not say which purchase is better and we make no forecast about prices.

Pre-construction and resale side by side

Question	Pre-construction, from a developer	Resale, from an owner
Cooling-off period	10 days to rescind the agreement	None described on the sources we relied on
Main documents	Disclosure statement, Ontario’s Residential Condominium Buyers’ Guide and a Condominium Information Sheet	Status certificate
Deposit	Held in trust by the builder. Tarion protection of up to $20,000 on a condominium unit	Tarion’s deposit protection is for new homes
Seller	A builder who must be licensed by the Home Construction Regulatory Authority	The current owner
HST	HST rules and rebates for new housing apply	Not covered in this post
Before final closing	Interim occupancy fee may apply	The interim occupancy rules are for new units
Land transfer tax	Ontario and Toronto taxes. Toronto’s first-time rebate covers new and resale homes	Ontario and Toronto taxes
Building records	First reserve fund study is due within a year of registration	Budget, audited statements and reserve fund study in the status certificate
Rent control	Exempt if first occupied after November 15, 2018	Depends on when the building was first occupied

The 10-day cooling-off period

The Condominium Authority of Ontario says a buyer of a pre-construction condo from a developer has a 10-day cooling-off period in which to rescind the agreement of purchase and sale. The Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) puts it as 10 calendar days to cancel with no penalty and a full refund of the deposit.

Three details matter.

• The agreement is not binding until the buyer has received both the disclosure statement and Ontario’s Residential Condominium Buyers’ Guide from the builder.
• The builder must also provide a Condominium Information Sheet with the purchase agreement.
• A further right to rescind arises if there is a material change to the disclosure statement.

Use the 10 days to have a lawyer read the agreement and the disclosure statement. The HCRA also says every new home builder and seller must be licensed, which you can check in the Ontario Builder Directory.

The pages that describe this right apply it to purchases from a developer. Nothing on them extends it to a resale purchase, so if you are buying resale, ask a lawyer what protections to write into the offer.

Deposits and Tarion protection

Tarion says builders of condominiums are required by the Condominium Act to hold deposits in trust. If a deposit was not placed in trust or is not returned, Tarion’s deposit protection for a condominium unit is up to $20,000. Payments for upgrades and extras count within that limit.

There is one gap. Money paid to reserve or hold a unit before a purchase agreement is signed is not protected.

HST and the rebates on a new condo

The rebates in this section are for newly built housing. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) describes two standing rebates:

Rebate	Amount	Limits
Federal GST/HST new housing rebate	36% of the federal part of the HST, to a maximum of $6,300	Full up to $350,000, phased out to nil at $450,000
Ontario new housing rebate	75% of the provincial part of the HST, to a maximum of $24,000	No price ceiling

For the Ontario rebate the home must be the primary place of residence of the buyer or a relation and the claim must be made within two years.

Several newer measures sit beside those two.

• First-time home buyers’ GST/HST rebate. Finance Canada says the enabling law received Royal Assent on March 12, 2026. It removes the GST for first-time buyers on new homes up to $1 million and reduces it between $1 million and $1.5 million, a saving of up to $50,000. It generally applies to agreements signed on or after March 20, 2025 and before 2031.
• Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate. The CRA says it provides up to $80,000 of the provincial part of the HST and follows the federal eligibility conditions.
• Ontario Enhanced New Housing Rebate. The CRA describes a temporary rebate that, with the Ontario new housing rebate, gives combined relief of up to $80,000 of the provincial part of the HST on a new home valued up to $1,850,000, where the agreement with the builder is signed between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027.
• Ontario New Home Affordability Payment. Ontario describes relief on the federal part of the HST of up to $50,000 on homes priced up to $1.5 million, a partial amount up to $1.85 million and nothing above that. A buyer must first receive the enhanced rebate.

Be careful with the Ontario measures. The Ontario Budget 2026 page words the enhanced rebate as a proposal, while the CRA and Ontario program pages describe it as operating. We could not confirm whether a buyer who intends to rent the unit out qualifies. Check the CRA page on the day you sign and confirm your position with an accountant and a lawyer.

Interim occupancy

On a pre-construction condo, interim occupancy is the period when you have the unit before ownership transfers and you pay an interim occupancy fee. The Condominium Authority of Ontario says the fee cannot exceed the total of three things: monthly interest on the unpaid balance of the price, the estimated monthly municipal taxes for the unit and the projected monthly common expenses.

These rules are for new units. Ask your lawyer how long interim occupancy could last under the builder’s agreement and what it would cost each month.

The status certificate on a resale condo

If you buy resale, your main protection is information. A status certificate comes from the condominium corporation and, per the Condominium Authority of Ontario, includes:

• the declaration, by-laws and rules
• the current budget and the last audited financial statements
• a statement on the most recent reserve fund study and the reserve fund
• the common expenses for the unit and any arrears
• common expense increases and special assessments
• the insurance certificate
• outstanding judgments and litigation

Anyone can request one. The corporation can charge up to $100 including taxes and must provide it within 10 days.

A new building has less of this history. A condominium corporation must complete its first reserve fund study within the first year after registration, then at least every three years. An established building has studies on file for you to read. Have a lawyer review the certificate before you commit.

Rent control and the 2018 date

This matters if you may rent the unit out. Ontario says new buildings occupied for the first time for residential purposes after November 15, 2018 are exempt from rent control. For units that are covered, the rent increase guideline is 2.1% for 2026 and 1.9% for 2027.

The exemption removes the cap but keeps the timing rules. Rent can be raised only once 12 months have passed since the last increase or the start of the tenancy, with at least 90 days of written notice.

A newly completed building falls on the exempt side of that date. A resale unit can fall on either side, so ask when the building was first occupied. Our North York condo investment guide covers the rent rules in more detail.

Assignment sales

An assignment is the sale of a pre-construction purchase agreement to another buyer before the unit closes. Whether a builder permits it is a term of the purchase agreement. We found no primary source that sets out a general right to assign. The CRA says all assignment sales of newly constructed housing have been taxable for GST/HST since May 7, 2022. The North York pre-construction condo guide covers assignment sales. Have a lawyer and an accountant review any assignment before you sign.

Questions to settle first

1. When do you need to move in or start renting the unit out?
2. How much cash can you commit to deposits before closing?
3. Has a lawyer read the disclosure statement or the status certificate?
4. Which HST rebates, if any, do you qualify for on the day you sign?
5. Have you worked out both land transfer taxes? The land transfer tax calculator does this and our post on closing costs on a North York condo shows the arithmetic.

To see what is for sale today, look at the North York condo listings or start with an area such as Yonge and Sheppard, Downsview Park or any of the twelve on the neighbourhoods page. The North York condo buying guide walks through the resale process step by step.

Everything here is general information. Confirm legal, tax and mortgage points with a lawyer, an accountant or a mortgage professional. If you want to compare a specific new project with resale units nearby, contact us.