Before you sign a new home, the useful questions are about the lot, the possession date, the title, warranty, and what the price actually includes. A tour answer still has to show up in the contract.
Ask these before the conditions come off
A first new-home purchase in Calgary is a stack of documents, not a single tour. The questions below are the ones that change what you sign. They are not a script for the sales desk. Take the answers to your lawyer and your lender. Where a government page states the rule, the link is the authority. Where the answer depends on your contract, the contract wins over a verbal reply.
Our page for first-time buyers is the wider starting point. The tax piece is only introduced here. The CRA page, not this article, decides eligibility. See GST/HST new housing rebate basics and do not treat a tour estimate as a filing position.
The home you are actually buying
Is the home in the offer the show home you walked, or a different lot that still has to be built? What is the possession date, in writing, and what does the contract say if that date moves? Which finishes are standard on your spec sheet, and which were display upgrades? Appliances, a deck, fencing, a basement, and a lot premium are either included or priced. If they are only mentioned aloud, they are not in the deal yet.
Is there a condominium plan, or will one be registered before you own? Alberta’s land titles guide says registering a condominium plan creates a title for each unit and creates a condominium corporation. No plan means no corporation contribution from a plan. A plan means you need the unit factor, the bylaws, and the current contribution. The building shape, duplex or townhome or detached, does not answer this. The title does. The comparison is in duplex versus townhome.
The City’s permission, and the builder’s date
In Calgary, a new house permit is inspected in phases. The City’s new house construction page says each phase has to be complete before it is booked, and the previous phase has to pass before the next one is requested. Pre-backfill covers the foundation before backfill. Pre-board covers framing and rough-ins. Pre-possession covers the final trade inspections. If a development permit applies, a development completion permit is part of being allowed to occupy.
Permission to occupy is the City’s statement that the house may be occupied. It is not, by itself, your possession date. Ask whether your contract requires that document before keys, and ask which phase the house is in now. A fuller walk through those stages is in builder timeline stages. Do not convert a phase into a promised number of weeks unless the contract states the date.
Warranty, in questions rather than assumptions
Homes with building permits applied for on or after February 1, 2014 need Alberta’s required new-home warranty, unless a legal exemption applies. The overview sets minimum terms of one year for labour and materials, two years for delivery and distribution systems, five years for the building envelope, and ten years for major structural components. Coverage starts on the earliest of occupancy, permission to occupy, or title transfer.
Ask for the warranty provider and whether this home is in the public registry. If the home is a condominium, ask whether common property starts on a different date than the unit. The warranty page says it can. Near possession, the walk-through list is a contract record. How to write it down is in the deficiency-list guide. Items on that list may sit outside warranty. A later defect is reported to the warranty provider, not only to the builder.
Money, without a borrowed number
What is the full price your lender is qualifying: base price, options, GST, and any credit? The Canada Revenue Agency publishes the GST/HST new housing rebate. Eligibility and any calculation live on that page. A first-time label on a brochure is not the CRA’s test. Do not subtract a rebate from your budget until your tax advisor says the claim fits your contract.
If there is a condominium contribution, ask what it pays and what the bylaws leave on you. If the headline says there is no fee, ask whether a condominium plan will be registered anyway. Fees and repairs over time are compared, without sample prices, in no condo fees versus condo townhomes.
Who holds the deposit, and which conditions are still yours to remove? Financing, a lawyer’s review, and a review of the condominium documents if they exist are the usual ones buyers protect. The names and deadlines have to be in the offer. A busy weekend at a sales centre does not extend a condition that has already expired.
A last pass the night before you sign
Read the offer once for the house and once for the money. On the house pass, confirm the legal lot, the plan name, the possession date, and the spec sheet attached. On the money pass, confirm the price, what is extra, how tax is written, and which conditions expire on which day. If a page is missing, do not initial a blank schedule. Ask for the page. A complete offer is easier for your lawyer to review than a stack of promises that never became schedules.
Sleep on a same-day signature if the contract allows it. Pressure to sign before you have the condominium documents, the spec sheet, or a lender’s view of the full price is a reason to slow down, not a reason to skip the questions above.
The place, checked on its own
If the home is in Calgary, use the civic address on the City’s community and ward tools, not only the sales name. If it is in Okotoks, the Town is a separate municipality. Services and bylaws are on okotoks.ca. Drive the route you would use on a normal weekday. School catchments come from the school board for that address. A pathway or a shop on a concept plan is not a term of the purchase contract unless someone writes it in.
ARK represents buyers on new construction. Bring the plan, the spec sheet, and the questions you did not get answered in writing. Call 587-800-1605. We will sort what is in the contract from what was said on the tour. Your lawyer still reviews the agreement. Your lender still confirms the funds. The CRA still decides any rebate.
What is the single most useful question?
What is the possession date in the contract, and what has to be true before that date, including City permission to occupy if the clause requires it?
Should I sign at the show home?
You can take the paperwork away. Have your lawyer read it, and your lender confirm the price and the date, before you remove conditions.
Does a new home automatically include warranty and a GST rebate?
Warranty follows Alberta’s permit rules and has to be registered for that home. A GST/HST housing rebate follows the CRA’s rules. Neither one is created by the word “new” on a brochure.
Who do I call if the answers conflict?
Your lawyer for the contract, your lender for the funds, the CRA or your tax advisor for the rebate, and the warranty provider for a defect after possession. A buyer’s agent can help you see the conflict. We do not replace those four.
Bring the questions that did not get a written answer
ARK represents buyers. Call 587-800-1605 and we will sort the contract from the tour. Your lawyer, lender, and tax advisor still handle their own parts.
Start a conversation Call 587-800-1605
See first-time buyers and builder timeline stages.