The New Residential Rental Property rebate, usually shortened to the NRRP rebate, is a separate federal and provincial program from the New Housing Rebate an owner-occupier claims, built specifically for someone who buys a newly built condo or house to rent out rather than live in. It requires a genuine signed lease, it’s filed directly with the CRA instead of through the builder, and it’s worth a real, capped amount, not the much larger figure a separate program for large rental-apartment developers sometimes gets confused with. This guide covers who qualifies, what it’s worth, and how it’s claimed, as one piece of what our complete Toronto real estate guide covers for anyone buying in the city.
If you’ve read our guide to Ontario’s New Home HST Rebate, that guide covers the version a buyer claims when they’re moving into the home themselves. This one covers the rental version, which our guide to condo assignment sales has already mentioned in passing for an assignee planning to rent a unit out, without explaining the detail. If you’re considering an investment purchase, browse current Toronto listings or see the rest of our guides for everything else buying to rent involves.
What the NRRP rebate is, and who it’s for
Every new or substantially renovated home sold in Ontario carries HST on the purchase. The GST/HST New Housing Rebate, covered in our guide to Ontario’s New Home HST Rebate, gives some of that back when the buyer is moving in themselves. The NRRP rebate is the parallel program for the opposite situation: a buyer who closes on a newly built condo or house, never moves in, and rents it out to a tenant instead. Mechanically, the federal and provincial math behind the two rebates is close to identical. What’s different is who qualifies and what they have to prove to claim it.
This matters for a specific, common situation: an investor buying a pre-construction condo with no intention of living in it. A buyer in that position can’t claim the owner-occupier rebate, because they’re not occupying the home, but they may be able to claim the NRRP rebate instead, provided they meet the lease test below.
The core eligibility test: a genuine lease
To qualify, the unit has to be rented under a genuine, signed residential lease of at least one year, twelve consecutive months, with a tenant in place. A unit the buyer leaves vacant doesn’t qualify. A unit the buyer moves into themselves doesn’t qualify, even temporarily while they look for a tenant. And a unit rented out short-term, Airbnb-style, doesn’t meet this test either, since the program requires a long-term residential tenancy, not short-stay accommodation. Our guide to Airbnb and short-term rental income tax covers the separate tax rules that apply once a property is run as a short-term rental, a materially different situation from the year-long lease this rebate requires.
The eligibility test is about actual use, not intent stated at closing. A buyer who closes intending to rent the unit out, finds a tenant within a reasonable window, and signs a year-long lease is the situation this rebate is built for. A buyer who can’t find a tenant, or who decides partway through to move in themselves, has changed the facts the rebate depends on, and that has consequences covered further down this guide.
How much it’s worth
Per the CRA’s own RC4231 rebate guide, the standard NRRP rebate has two components, federal and provincial, and they work the same way the owner-occupier rebate’s own two components do. The federal component rebates 36% of the GST, or the federal part of HST, paid on the unit, up to a maximum of $6,300. It’s available in full where the unit’s fair market value is $350,000 or less, phases out in a straight line between $350,000 and $450,000, and disappears entirely at $450,000 or above. The Ontario component rebates 75% of the 8% provincial portion of HST paid, capped at a flat $24,000 per unit, and unlike the federal side, this part doesn’t phase out as the price rises. It applies at the full $24,000 cap regardless of the unit’s fair market value, the same way the Ontario component of the owner-occupier rebate behaves once a home crosses $400,000.
The much larger rebate this isn’t
Since 2023, the federal government and Ontario have each enhanced their own rebate to 100% of the GST, or the provincial HST portion, with no cap at all and no phase-out by price, for a different and much larger category: purpose-built rental housing. That means a building with at least four private apartment units, or at least ten private rooms or suites, where at least 90% of the units are designated for long-term rental, with construction beginning after September 13, 2023 and substantially complete before 2036. This is the program behind headlines about a developer getting the full HST removed on a new rental apartment building.
It doesn’t apply to you if you’re an individual buying one condo or house to rent out. The CRA’s own GST/HST Memorandum 19-3-9 on this Purpose-built Rental Housing Rebate states plainly that an individually owned condominium unit is excluded from it, alongside single-unit housing, duplexes, triplexes, and a few other specific housing types, and that these continue to qualify only for the standard rebate described above. If you’ve seen a headline describing a 100%, uncapped HST rebate for a new rental property, it’s describing this large-scale purpose-built-rental program for developers, not the rebate available to someone buying a single investment condo. Confirm which one applies to your situation before assuming the bigger number is yours to claim.
How and when it’s claimed
Unlike the owner-occupier rebate, which a builder sometimes credits directly at closing, the NRRP rebate is filed directly with the CRA, using Form GST524, with Form GST525 added for a co-op or multiple-unit claim. You pay the full HST at closing, then apply for the rebate afterward once you have a signed lease in hand to prove eligibility. The claim has to be filed within two years of the end of the month the tax first became payable, a strict limit the Tax Court has enforced even when a claim missed it by a short margin, so treat this deadline as fixed rather than flexible. Filing can be done online through a CRA My Account or My Business Account, or by mailing the paper form directly.
What happens if the plan changes
Eligibility is based on what happens with the unit after closing, not what the buyer planned beforehand. If the lease falls through and no tenant ever moves in, if the buyer decides to move in themselves, or if the unit sits vacant, the condition the rebate depends on hasn’t been met, and claiming it anyway creates a real risk of having to repay it. There’s no fixed penalty percentage stated here, since the exact consequence depends on the specifics of the file, but the general rule is straightforward: this isn’t a rebate you claim once and never revisit. It depends on the lease genuinely holding up, and a change of plan after the fact is a problem, not a paperwork detail.
Frequently asked questions
What is the New Residential Rental Property rebate?
It’s a federal and provincial HST rebate for someone who buys a newly built or substantially renovated condo or house specifically to rent it out, as opposed to the GST/HST New Housing Rebate an owner-occupier claims when they move in themselves. It requires a genuine signed residential lease of at least one year with a tenant in place, and it’s filed directly with the CRA rather than credited by the builder at closing. The rebate has a federal component and an Ontario component, calculated separately and worth a real, capped amount rather than an unlimited percentage of the HST paid.
What’s the core eligibility requirement for the NRRP rebate?
A genuine, signed residential lease of at least twelve consecutive months, with an actual tenant in place, not just an intention to rent the unit out eventually. A unit left vacant, a unit the buyer moves into themselves even temporarily, and a unit rented short-term through a platform like Airbnb all fail this test, since the program requires a long-term tenancy. Eligibility is assessed on what happens with the unit after closing, not on what the buyer planned when they signed the purchase agreement, which is why the lease has to be in place before the rebate can be properly claimed.
How much is the NRRP rebate worth?
The federal component is 36% of the GST or federal HST paid, up to a maximum of $6,300, available in full where the unit’s value is $350,000 or less and phasing out completely by $450,000. The Ontario component is 75% of the 8% provincial portion of HST paid, capped at a flat $24,000, and this part doesn’t phase out as the price rises, staying at the full $24,000 regardless of the unit’s value. Together, the maximum combined rebate for a qualifying unit is $30,300, though the federal portion shrinks or disappears entirely as the unit’s price climbs past $350,000, confirmed directly against CRA’s own published rebate structure as of October 2026.
Is this the same as the 100% HST rebate I’ve heard about for new rental buildings?
No, and this is the most common confusion around this rebate. Since 2023, the federal and Ontario governments have offered a separate, much larger enhancement, 100% of the GST or provincial HST paid with no cap, for purpose-built rental buildings with at least four units where at least 90% are designated for long-term rental. Every government source confirms this enhanced program explicitly excludes individually owned condominium units and other small-scale residential property. If you’re buying a single condo or house as a rental investment, you’re on the standard, capped rebate described in this guide, not the larger uncapped one built for large-scale rental-apartment developers.
How and when do I claim the rebate?
You file Form GST524 directly with the CRA, adding Form GST525 if the claim involves a co-op or multiple units, within two years of the end of the month the HST first became payable. Unlike the owner-occupier rebate, which a builder sometimes applies directly at closing, this one is claimed afterward, once you have a signed lease in hand proving the unit is genuinely rented. The two-year deadline is strict, and the Tax Court has denied claims filed even slightly late, so track this date from closing rather than assuming there’s flexibility if you miss it.
Once you know what the NRRP rebate covers, the next question is whether a specific pre-construction or newly built unit makes sense as a rental investment at all. Browse current Toronto listings, see our guide to condo assignment sales if you’re buying before a project completes, or see the rest of our guides for everything else buying to rent in Toronto involves.