You're right there. Oops.

Yes they do, we have to provide evidence that we were permanent residents to be able to buy our acreage and that is just under 2 acres.

You are going to have to hire a lawyer for the purchase anyway Id guess.

Rather than pay for the privilege twice maybe this could be dealt with by just adding clearing this particular hurdle as a waiver on any purchase agreement and have the lawyer deal with it then. Then if it falls through because of ownership restrictions you are off the hook, same as if financing fell through or the water supply to the property failed tests.

Otherwise find a realtor with direct experience dealing with TWP holders buying acreages is yours doesnt, you are probably not the first person in this boat after all. You dont pay for a realtors services as a buyer here, they take their 2c from the sellers commission.

You certainly dont want to be using the sellers realtor as your representative, no matter how impartial they seem.

Maybe in Alberta. Not here.

I suspect this is a provincial issue. I purchased 32 acres in BC as a non resident, and had no problem or restrictions.

Reading through, I see you have cleared that matter up, I was posting in response to your original blanket statement

That's pretty brave to be buying a house when you are on a one year work permit...

What if you lose your job or you don't get PR? Just sayin...

From what I understand from our dealings with the solicitors it's more to do with farmland and keeping it in the possession of Canadian residents, I could be waffling but that's the impression we got.

Amen, Not to mention the expense of bringing horses back and forth.

I know one person who did that for a beloved family pony that their kids had grown up with, its frighteningly expensive. Makes far more sense to start again from scratch if that emotional attachment can be broken.

All the land I purchased was within the ALR. Only 1/3 of it was used for agricultural purposes, which provided me with farm status. The other 20 acres were used to generate business income, but not strictly speaking as farmland.

I'm only saying what our experience was and what we were led to believe

As pointed out up thread, Alberta has restrictions on ownership that BC does not seem to...

Not sure why Piff had to show PR though for just a couple of acres. Oh well..

The acres were originally subdivided from farmland, so it could be because of that. We also found out during our acreage hunting that you could only subdivide a large acreage (farm) once and the subsequent acreages couldn't then be subdivided again unless you jumped through hoops and managed to get approval.

I like to think of it as a calculated risk - better than the alternative to stay in the UK with little or no prospects for kids etc,. and economy that is going to be at best stagnant for the next 8-10 years. - Just my opinion, please don't attack me for it! Everyone has to make their own minds up on what is right for them (this is one thing I have learned looking through other discussions on BE).

Thanks everyone for your contribution I need to continue my search for the loophole in this rule.

Don't expect to find a loophole. How many horses do you have? 10 acres is ample for 5+.