Is Skaha Hills leasehold?

Yes. Skaha Hills sits on Penticton Indian Band land, developed under a Crown lease designated for a 150 year term rather than freehold title. You own the home and hold a lease on the land beneath it. That structure is why it prices differently from comparable freehold property nearby.

Can I get a mortgage on leasehold property?

Often yes, but not from every lender, and that is the single most important thing to establish early. Some lenders do not write mortgages on leasehold land, and fewer write them on First Nations land specifically. Confirm your lender will finance the particular property before you write an offer, not during subject removal.

Does the remaining lease term matter?

Very much. Lenders look at the years remaining against the amortisation they are being asked to write, and value changes as a term shortens. A long remaining term behaves quite differently from a short one. Find out the exact remaining term on the specific property rather than relying on the length the development was originally designated for.

What happens at the end of a lease?

Absent a renewal or a new agreement, the land and what sits on it revert to the owner at the end of the term. On a long lease that is not a practical concern for a buyer today, but it is the reason the structure prices differently and it is what a lender is thinking about. Understanding it beforehand is better than discovering it later.

Is leasehold a bad investment?

Not inherently, and plenty of people are very happy in leasehold homes. It is a different asset with a different buyer pool and different financing. The entry price is often lower for comparable space and setting. What you give up is some of the resale flexibility, because fewer buyers can finance it. Whether that trade suits you depends on your timeline and your plans.

Are there strata fees as well as lease payments?

There can be, and they are separate things. A leasehold property may also be part of a strata, in which case you have strata fees for common property and maintenance in addition to whatever the lease arrangement involves. Read both sets of documents, because they cover different obligations.

What should I check before buying leasehold in Penticton?

Get the actual lease and have a lawyer experienced in leasehold on First Nations land read it. Confirm financing with your lender on that specific property. Establish the exact remaining term, what happens on renewal, what payments are involved and whether they can change, and what the resale conditions are. Do not rely on a general description, including this one.

Buying on leased land in Penticton

Q: What is the difference between leasehold and freehold?

With freehold you own the land and everything on it indefinitely. With leasehold you own the improvements and hold a lease giving you the right to occupy the land for a defined term. Day to day it feels much the same. The differences appear in financing, in resale, and at the end of the term.

By Dan Jones · September 12, 2026

Bottom line: Skaha Hills and some other Penticton area property is leasehold rather than freehold, meaning you own the home and hold a lease on the land beneath it. Skaha Hills sits on Penticton Indian Band land under a Crown lease designated for a 150 year term. Day to day, living there feels no different from freehold. The differences show up in three places: financing, because not every lender writes mortgages on leasehold land and fewer do so on First Nations land; resale, because a smaller pool of buyers can finance it; and the end of the term, which is what makes lenders cautious and what makes the pricing different. None of that makes it a bad buy. It makes it a different one, and one where you confirm your financing before you write an offer.

I am Dan Jones, a REALTOR with Royal LePage Locations West in Penticton, licence number 1118346, licensed since 2004. I am not a lawyer, and on leasehold the lease document itself is the authority. Have one read by a lawyer who has done this kind of transaction in this area before you commit to anything.

What leasehold actually means

With freehold title you own the land and the improvements on it, indefinitely, subject to the usual things like taxes and bylaws. That is what most Canadian residential property is.

With leasehold, someone else owns the land. You own the house and hold a registered lease giving you the right to occupy the land for a defined term.

In practice, living in a leasehold home is ordinary. You have a house, you have keys, you maintain it, you can sell it. The differences are financial and legal rather than daily.

Skaha Hills specifically

Skaha Hills is on Penticton Indian Band land. The development proceeded under a Crown lease with the federal government, designated for a 150 year term.

That is the headline structure. The details of individual leases, including remaining term, payment arrangements and any prepayment, vary and are set out in the lease documents for the specific property. Get those and read them. Do not rely on a summary, including this one.

The three things that are genuinely different

Financing

This is the one to sort out first, before anything else.

Not every lender writes mortgages on leasehold land, and fewer write them on leasehold on First Nations land. The ones that do may have different requirements around down payment, amortisation and the remaining term.

What that means practically: confirm with your own lender that they will finance the specific property before you write an offer. Not in principle, not “we do leasehold”, but that property. Finding out during subject removal that your lender will not proceed is an avoidable and expensive surprise.

If your current lender will not, a mortgage broker who has done leasehold in this area is worth talking to.

Resale

Because fewer buyers can finance leasehold, the pool of people who can buy it from you later is smaller than for a comparable freehold home.

That works in both directions. It is part of why the entry price is often lower for comparable space, outlook and finish. It is also why resale can take longer and why the market for it behaves differently.

If you are buying what you expect to be your last house and you intend to stay, that trade may suit you very well. If you think you may want to move again in five years, weigh it more carefully.

The end of the term

Absent renewal or a new agreement, the land and what is on it revert to the owner at the end of the lease.

On a long term that is not a practical concern for a buyer today. It is, however, the reason the structure prices differently, and it is what a lender has in mind when looking at remaining years against amortisation.

The thing to establish is the exact remaining term on your specific property, not the term the development was originally designated for. Those are not always the same number, and the difference matters to a lender.

What to check before you buy

Get the actual lease for the property and have a lawyer experienced in leasehold on First Nations land read it.
Confirm financing with your lender on that specific property, in writing.
Establish the exact remaining term.
Find out what payments are involved, whether the lease is prepaid, and whether any amounts can change during the term.
Check whether there is also a strata, because a leasehold property can be part of one, and strata fees and obligations are separate from the lease. If so, read the strata documents properly.
Ask about resale conditions and whether the lease imposes any on transferring.
Do your thinking before you write, not after. Property on leased land is exempt from the home buyer rescission period, so the three business day right to walk away that applies to most BC purchases does not apply here. How the rescission period works, and what else is exempt.

What I think about it

I have no argument against leasehold. Skaha Hills is a genuinely attractive setting and people who live there generally like it. What I have an argument against is people buying it without understanding what they bought.

The mistake I would want you to avoid is treating it as freehold with a footnote. It is a different asset class with different financing, a different buyer pool and a different long term profile. Understood going in, it can be a very good fit, particularly for someone whose next move is intended to be their last.

Understood after the fact, when a lender declines or a resale takes longer than expected, it feels like something was hidden. Usually nothing was. The information was in a document nobody read.

If you are looking at a leasehold property here and want to talk through what it means for your situation, email me at dano007@shaw.ca or call 250.488.0226. For the lease terms themselves, a lawyer, and I will tell you when you have reached that point.