National Housing Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. N-11)

Marginal note:Confidentiality

• 21.61 (1) Subject to any other provision of this Part or Part I, any information that is collected by the Corporation under this Part is confidential and must be treated accordingly.

• Marginal note:Use of information

  (2) Information that is collected by the Corporation under this Part must be used by the Corporation only for the purpose for which it is collected.

Marginal note:Suspension

• 21.62 (1) The Corporation may suspend the right of a registered issuer to issue further covered bonds under a registered program.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (2) In the case where the Corporation decides to suspend that right, it must provide the registered issuer with a written notice of and the reasons for the intended suspension, no later than 30 days before the day on which the suspension is to take effect.

• Marginal note:Copies to regulator

  (3) The Corporation must provide a copy of the notice and reasons to,

  • (a) in the case of a federal financial institution as defined in section 2 of the Bank Act, the Superintendent of Financial Institutions appointed under subsection 5(1) of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act; and

  • (b) in the case of a cooperative credit society incorporated and regulated by or under an Act of the legislature of a province, the body that regulates that society.

• Marginal note:Revoking suspension

  (4) The Corporation may revoke a suspension and, in that case, must provide the registered issuer with written notice of the revocation of the suspension.

Bankruptcy and Insolvency Protection

Marginal note:Covered bonds

21.63 Nothing in any law of Canada or a province relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or any order of a court made in relation to a reorganization, arrangement or receivership involving bankruptcy or insolvency, prevents or prohibits the following actions from being taken in accordance with the provisions of contracts relating to covered bonds that are issued under a registered program:

• (a) the making of any payments, including a payment to a registered issuer;

• (b) the netting or setting off or compensation of obligations;

• (c) any dealing with covered bond collateral, including

  • (i) the sale or foreclosure or, in Quebec, the surrender of covered bond collateral, and

  • (ii) the setting off or compensation of covered bond collateral or the application of the proceeds or value of covered bond collateral; and

• (d) the termination of those contracts.

Marginal note:Transfer not voidable and not subject to remedies

21.64 Despite anything in any law of Canada or a province relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or any order of a court made in relation to a reorganization, arrangement or receivership involving bankruptcy or insolvency, the transfer of loans or other assets to a guarantor entity — to be held as covered bond collateral — by a registered issuer, any of its affiliates or any prescribed entity

• (a) is effective against every person;

• (b) is not voidable or, in Quebec, annullable;

• (c) is not subject to any other remedies available to creditors of the registered issuer; and

• (d) does not constitute a fraudulent conveyance, unjust preference or other reviewable transaction.

Marginal note:Non-application

21.65 Sections 21.63 and 21.64 do not apply to contracts relating to covered bonds that are issued under a registered program, nor to the transfer of loans or other assets to a guarantor entity to be held as covered bond collateral for those covered bonds, if those covered bonds are issued by a registered issuer during the period in which its right to issue covered bonds has been suspended under section 21.62.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

21.66 The Minister of Finance may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part, including regulations

• (a) excluding, from the definition covered bond, certain debt obligations;

• (b) excluding, from the definition covered bond collateral, certain payments from the guarantor entity to the registered issuer;

• (c) establishing requirements that an institution, or a program under which covered bonds are to be issued, must meet to be registered in the registry;

• (d) respecting applications made under section 21.52 or 21.54;

• (e) respecting cost recovery for the purposes of section 21.59;

• (f) establishing additional requirements with respect to the loans referred to in paragraph 21.6(1)(a);

• (g) respecting the circumstances in which guarantor entities may hold the assets described in subsection 21.6(2) and, according to each circumstance, the maximum ratio of the value of those assets relative to the total value of the loans or other assets being held as covered bond collateral; and

• (h) prescribing anything that is to be prescribed under this Part.

PART IIHousing for Rental Purposes

Marginal note:Contractual guarantee of return from rental housing project

• 22 (1) The Corporation may enter into contracts with builders of rental housing projects to guarantee in each contract a financial return from a rental housing project after its completion in an amount to be determined by the Corporation for a total period of not more than thirty years.

• Marginal note:Undertaking to enter into contract

  (2) The Corporation may give to a builder an undertaking that the Corporation will enter into a contract with the builder under subsection (1) if the builder builds a rental housing project.

• Marginal note:Terms and conditions

  (3) The Corporation may determine the terms and conditions on which it enters into a contract in respect of a rental housing project under subsection (1), including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,

  • (a) fees with respect to any guarantee referred to in subsection (1);

  • (b) conditions with respect to the operation or occupancy of the project;

  • (c) restrictions on the disposal, leasing or charging of the project or any part of it or interest in it;

  • (d) limits on the amount of the financial return that may be made from the project; and

  • (e) provisions giving the Corporation the right to direct the use of any amount received in excess of any limits referred to in paragraph (d).

• Marginal note:Consent to assign

  (4) A contract referred to in subsection (1) is personal to the builder of the rental housing project to which the contract relates and may be assigned to a subsequent owner of the rental housing project only with the written consent of the Corporation.

Marginal note:Loans for rental housing projects

• 23 (1) Any approved lender who is subject to the jurisdiction of Parliament may, notwithstanding any restrictions on the power of the lender to lend or invest money contained in any other statute or law,

  • (a) make loans for rental housing projects in respect of which an undertaking has been given by the Corporation under subsection 22(2) or the financial return has been guaranteed by the Corporation under section 22; and

  • (b) dispose of or acquire loans made for rental housing projects in respect of which the financial return has been guaranteed by the Corporation under section 22, together with any security taken in respect of the guarantee.

• Marginal note:Terms and conditions

  (2) A loan may be made under paragraph (1)(a) only with the approval of the Corporation and on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Restriction of powers

  (3) The Corporation may restrict the powers that an approved lender may exercise under subsection (1).

Marginal note:Corporation may lend

24 If, in the opinion of the Corporation, a person is unable to obtain a loan described in paragraph 23(1)(a), the Corporation may make a loan to that person on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Corporation.

24.1 [Repealed, 1999, c. 27, s. 4]

Marginal note:Loans, etc., with respect to rental housing projects

• 25 (1) The Corporation may make loans and contributions with respect to rental housing projects, make loans to refinance debt that, in the opinion of the Corporation, relates to rental housing projects and forgive amounts owing on those loans.

• Marginal note:Terms and conditions

  (2) The Corporation may determine the terms and conditions on which it makes a loan or contribution or forgives an amount under subsection (1), including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing,

  • (a) conditions with respect to the operation or occupancy of a rental housing project;

  • (b) restrictions on the disposal, leasing or charging of the project or any part of it or interest in it;

  • (c) limits on the amount of the financial return that may be made from the project; and

  • (d) provisions giving the Corporation the right to direct the use of any amount received in excess of any limits referred to in paragraph (c).

26 to 31 [Repealed, 1999, c. 27, s. 4]

Marginal note:Life insurance companies investment

• 32 (1) Any life insurance company subject to the jurisdiction of Parliament may, notwithstanding any restriction on the power of the company to lend or invest money contained in any other statute or law,

  • (a) subject to the conditions set out in subsection (2), invest its funds, to an aggregate amount not exceeding five per cent of its total assets in Canada, as shown in its most recent annual return filed under section 665 of the Insurance Companies Act, in the purchase of land and the construction thereon of a low cost or moderate cost rental housing project, including such buildings or such accommodation for retail stores, shops, offices and other community services, but not including hotels, as the company may deem proper and suitable for the convenience of the tenants of that rental housing project; and

  • (b) after investing its funds pursuant to paragraph (a), hold, maintain, repair, alter, demolish, reconstruct, manage, collect or receive income from, sell or convey, in whole or in part, land acquired by means of the investment and the improvements on the land.

• Marginal note:Conditions of investment under subsection (1)

  (2) The conditions under which an investment referred to in subsection (1) may be made are as follows:

  • (a) the project shall, in the discretion of the Corporation, be constructed in accordance or in harmony with an official community plan satisfactory to it;

  • (b) the project shall be designed to provide housing accommodation for families of low income or moderate income and the Corporation may prescribe a maximum average cost per room or per family housing unit provided thereby, or per person to be accommodated;

  • (c) the company shall submit to the Corporation an application in a form to be prescribed by it and accompanied by the following:

    • (i) a map showing the location of the land and any structures thereon, the purchase of which is deemed by the company to be necessary to the project,

    • (ii) a plan and specifications prepared by an architect showing the buildings or improvements to be constructed thereon pursuant to the project,

    • (iii) an estimate of the cost of the entire project prepared by an architect or engineer and approved by the company,

    • (iv) an estimate of such rentals of the family housing units and the other facilities to be provided as are necessary to assure a minimum return of six per cent per annum on the cost of the entire project after payment of all taxes, insurance, costs of operation and maintenance and an annual amount sufficient to amortize the cost of construction of the project, less the cost of the land, within a period representing the estimated useful life of the project but not in any case exceeding fifty years after the date of completion of the project, and

    • (v) such other information or material as the Corporation may require; and

  • (d) the investment is approved by the Corporation.

• Marginal note:Guarantee to life insurance company

  (3) Where a life insurance company agrees with the Corporation

  • (a) to maintain, in relation to a rental housing project in which the company invests under this section, separate books and records satisfactory to the Corporation and open to its inspection at any time,

  • (b) to establish, on account of the project, a reserve comprising all net earnings in any year after completion of the project that are in excess of seven per cent per annum on the cost of the project, and

  • (c) to repay out of the reserve any advances made by the Corporation under the guarantee given pursuant to this subsection,

  the Corporation shall guarantee to the company, for as long as it retains ownership of the whole or any part of the project, a net return in any year after the completion of the project of three per cent per annum of the cost of the project for a period not exceeding the estimated useful life of the project and in any case not exceeding fifty years.

• Definition of net return in any year

  (4) In this section, net return in any year means an amount equal to annual net earnings derived from the project computed by deducting from the total annual revenues therefrom all expenses of the year in respect thereof, including provision for taxes, insurance, repairs and maintenance, interest and an amount sufficient to amortize the cost of construction of the project, including the cost of the land, over the estimated useful life of the project.

• Marginal note:Two or more companies

  (5) Two or more life insurance companies may join in the development, ownership and management of a rental housing project under this section.

• Marginal note:Power of Governor in Council to designate approved lenders

  (6) The Governor in Council may, for the purposes of this section, designate

  • (a) an approved lender subject to the jurisdiction of Parliament, to which lender, if designated under this paragraph, subsections (1) to (5) apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, but the amount of its funds that may be invested shall not exceed five per cent of its assets in Canada or such amount as is approved by the Governor in Council for the purposes of this subsection; and

  • (b) an approved lender that is not subject to the jurisdiction of Parliament but is empowered to make investments referred to in this section, to which lender, if designated under this paragraph, subsections (2) to (5) apply, with such modifications as the circumstances require, but the amount of investments in respect of which guarantees may be given under this section shall not exceed five per cent of its assets in Canada or such amount as is approved by the Governor in Council for the purposes of this subsection.