Can I Build a Multiplex, Live in One Home and Sell the Others?

Section 22(1.1) of BC's Homeowner Protection Act says a person must not sell or offer to sell a new home while it is being built, or within 10 years after the occupancy permit, unless it is covered by home warranty insurance or exempt by regulation. BC Housing's Regulatory Bulletin 06 describes that cover as home warranty insurance arranged by a licensed builder.

The owner builder route does not fit a multiplex. Section 19(1) of the Homeowner Protection Act Regulation limits an owner builder to a detached dwelling under one legal title, or a single dwelling in or attached to an existing building, with a secondary suite where local bylaws allow. Section 20.1 of the Act also stops an owner builder from selling during construction or within a set period afterward, without the registrar's permission.

To sell homes one by one, the building is stratified. Under section 2 of the Strata Property Act, a strata corporation is established from the time the strata plan is deposited in a land title office, and the owners of the strata lots become its members.

You stay involved after that. Section 5 says the owner developer exercises the powers and duties of the strata council from the time the strata corporation is established until a council is elected at the first annual general meeting. If you keep a home, you are also a neighbour and a strata owner for years after the sale, so plan the bylaws, the budget and the property manager with that in mind.

BC's Real Estate Development Marketing Act defines a development property to include 5 or more strata lots in a stratified building. A developer marketing a development unit must file a disclosure statement before marketing it, and the Act applies regardless of whether the developer intends to market every unit. A buyer can rescind by written notice within 7 days.

So a strata fourplex is below that line, and a strata multiplex of 5 or 6 homes is above it, even if you keep one. Section 14 says the statement must plainly disclose all material facts without misrepresentation. Budget time for it with a real estate lawyer.

The City's R1-1 district schedule (June 2026 version) allows up to 6 homes when any of them is owned. The 8-home option applies only when the floor area is secured as rental, with one home allowed for a registered owner of the site, so it does not suit a plan to sell. The schedule also sets a minimum number of homes with 2 or more bedrooms, which affects the mix of homes you can sell.

On tax, a buyer of a new home pays GST/HST, and the Canada Revenue Agency's new housing rebate returns part of it to individuals who buy new housing from a builder as their main home. Ask your accountant how GST/HST and income tax apply to the homes you sell, at the design stage, before you price anything.