The Strong Communities through Affordable Housing Act 2011, which allows for second units within Municipalities, must be governed by domestic zoning and safety by-laws for those units.
The City of Brampton (council) recently passed (April 22, 2015) a series of regulations that may well be used as a template for other cities and towns throughout the province.
Succinctly, here are most of these regulations:
- There may only be 1 unit per legal residence, regardless of whether it is a townhouse, semi-detached or detached home.
- The units must be of a certain minimum size and an additional parking spot must exist to accommodate the tenant’s automobile.
- They must have a separate entrance, registered kitchen area and separate bathroom facilities.
- The units must be approved by a City Inspector to assure that they meet Building, Fire and Electrical Codes.
- There is a one-time registration fee of $200, plus an additional $500 for an owner occupied residence and $1,000 for non-owner occupied dwelling.
- Homeowners who do not register their units can be fined up to $50,000. Yes, that is correct $50,000!
It is estimated that Brampton has approx. 5,000 legal secondary units. What about the multitude of non-registered units? Estimates run as high as 3 to 4 times as many non-conforming units abounding throughout the city. How will the by-law department bring enforcement to the tens of thousands of non-complying units?
Clearly we cannot have 2 sets of rules and something has to be done to standardize and regulate this preponderance of secondary housing.
Will George Orwell’s “Big Brother” be coming to your neighbourhood soon? Will neighbours be financially induced to anonymously report their fellow residents? When this Bill and all its implications start to become incorporated into the main stream, it will inevitably require an extended grace period for implementation and a massive degree of patience.
Finally, this will unavoidably have a huge effect upon property valuations! Just imagine, a young couple buys an impeccable semi-detached bungalow with a lovely, older, non-registered, ground floor, 1 bedroom unit, which they rent out to supplement their mortgage payments. Subsequently, the tenant complains or the apartment is reported. They are forced to retrofit the lower level (drywall is 1/2 inch versus required 5/8). The Landlord & Tenant Act supersedes on behalf of the tenant because they have signed a 2+ year lease (tenant cannot be displaced)!
So, the question remains, what is worth more, a legal unit or a non-registered unit? Lenders of every description will be much more diligent about the legality of secondary units. Market rents will become more skewed as availability and legality intersect.
The implementation of this bill will have resounding echoes throughout the province as more municipalities move more aggressively towards enforcing the existing by-laws and creating new, harder regulations. The potential tax increase is just too large to be overlooked. The offloading of fees such as MPAC is just the tip of the iceberg.
Feel free to comment; be certain, “No man will escape the wrath of Bill 140” it will be coming to a neighbourhood near you very soon!