Renting Out Your Ottawa Home While You Live Abroad

Are you a non-resident for tax purposes?

Leaving Canada does not automatically make you a non-resident for tax. Residency depends on your ties to Canada, such as a home, a spouse or dependants who stay behind. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) decides each case on its facts.

Government employees and Canadian Forces members. Federal or provincial government employees posted abroad, who were resident in Canada just before the posting or who receive a representation allowance, and members of the Canadian Forces are usually considered residents of Canada for tax. In that case, you continue to report your rental income on your normal Canadian return, and the non-resident rules below do not apply.

Non-resident tax on rent

If you are a non-resident, 25% of the gross rent must be withheld for non-resident tax. When a property manager collects the rent, the manager is your agent and must withhold this tax and send it to the CRA by the 15th of the month after the rent is received. At the end of the year, you receive an NR4 slip showing the rent and the tax withheld.

Paying tax on net rent: the NR6 and section 216

Withholding 25% of gross rent usually takes more than the tax actually owed, because expenses such as mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, repairs and management fees are not deducted. To pay on net rent instead:

1. You and your agent complete Form NR6 and send it to the CRA on or before January 1 of the year, or before the first rent payment is due. Once it is approved, your agent withholds 25% of the net rent.
2. You then file a separate return for the rental income under section 216 of the Income Tax Act (Form T1159). With an approved NR6, the return is generally due by June 30 of the following year.

Ask a tax professional who works with non-residents to confirm the deadlines and what you can deduct.

Practical arrangements

• Insurance. Tell your insurer that the home is rented and that you live abroad, and get a landlord or rental policy.
• Mortgage. Tell your lender, and check whether renting is allowed under your mortgage.
• Authority to act. Decide who can sign leases and approve work while you are away: your property manager under the management agreement, and someone you trust under a power of attorney for anything else.
• A spending limit. Agree in writing on an amount your manager can approve for repairs without reaching you. Time zones make it hard to answer quickly, and urgent repairs cannot wait.
• Banking. Keep a Canadian bank account for rent deposits and Canadian expenses.
• City of Ottawa. The annual Vacant Unit Tax declaration is still required while you are away, even though a rented home is exempt from the tax.

Planning your return

If you want your home back when you return, plan the lease with that in mind. In Ontario, a tenancy does not end when the lease term ends; it continues month to month unless the tenant agrees to leave. To end it so you can move back in, you must give notice on the Landlord and Tenant Board's form for the landlord's own use, act in good faith and, if the tenant does not leave, apply to the Board.

For notices given on or after September 21, 2026, a landlord who gives at least 120 days' notice no longer owes the tenant one month's rent as compensation. The person moving in is generally expected to occupy the home within 60 days after the tenancy ends. Talk to us well before your return date so that the timing works.

Owners of homes in Gatineau or Chelsea should read our Quebec guide, as the rules for taking back a dwelling are different.

Official sources

• CRA: government employees outside Canada
• CRA: rental income of non-residents, filing and reporting
• CRA: guide T4144, electing under section 216
• Landlord and Tenant Board