This depends on the governing jurisdiction of the plan. Ontario, for instance, permits locked-in accounts to hold an owner’s personal mortgage provided that money in the locked-in accounts is held in self-directed LIRAs, LIFs or LRIFs.

In addition, effective October 2006, Alberta pension legislation allows the funds of a LIRA or LIF to be invested in the plan owner’s personal mortgage or mortgage of a close relative.

BC pension legislation, on the other hand, provides that the funds of a LIRA or LIF cannot invest either directly or
indirectly in a mortgage where the mortgagor is the plan owner, the parent, brother, sister or child of the plan owner or the pension partner of any such person.

Therefore, to determine whether a self-directed mortgage can be held within a locked-in plan, it is necessary to check the locked-in plan agreement.