Building Permits

You need a building permit for any work in heritage district or on a heritage building, as well as for the following: 

• Building an accessory structure, like a shed or greenhouse, that is over ten square meters with plumbing or over 15 square meters without plumbing
• Renovating, repairing or adding to an existing building, including finished basements 
• Demolishing or removing part or all the building
• Changing the building’s use or part of it
• Installing, changing or removing partitions and load-bearing walls
• Creating or altering doors and windows
• Constructing a garage, porch, deck, or enclosing an existing one 
• Making structural changes or building a designated structure 
• Excavating a basement to increase headroom or construct a foundation
• Installing or modifying heating, plumbing, and air conditioning systems 
• Installing or reconstructing chimneys, wood-burning fireplaces, or fireplaces inserts 
• Adding new plumbing, relocating a hot water tank, or installing a tankless water heater
• Building a deck larger than 10 square meters (108 square feet or about 10 feet by 10 feet) or two feet above the ground
• Installing a swimming pool or hot tub
• Installing signs
• Modifying a geothermal system 
• Install or modify any life safety or fire suppression system, such as fire alarms, sprinkler or standpipe, or fixed extinguishing systems including: 
  • Replacement of a non-like fire alarm panel, addition of a new zone or extension of an existing system 
  • Replacement of bells to horns or horns to bells
  • Installing a Fire link system 
  • Installing Electro-magnetic locks or door hold-open device 

• Replacing existing doors and windows of the same size, following property line regulations
• Installing siding on small residential buildings, adhering to property line rules
• Building an accessory structure, like a shed or greenhouse, that is under ten square meters with plumbing or under 15 square meters without plumbing, that is within zoning bylaw restrictions. 
• Building a roofless deck less than two feet above the adjacent grade, unattached to a building, complying with zoning bylaw restrictions. 
• Re-shingling the roof, as long as there is no structural work involved
• Installing eaves troughs, ensuring drainage remains on your property
• Damp-proofing basements
• Painting or decorating
• Reinstalling or replacing kitchen or bathroom cabinets without new plumbing
• Installing a fence, except for swimming pools, which require a permit, following fence bylaw regulations
• Performing electrical work, subject to Electrical Safety Authority permit requirements
•  Modify any life safety system or fire suppression system, such as fire alarms, sprinkler or standpipe, or fixed extinguishing systems limited to the following: 
  • Change a heat detector to a smoke detector
  • Replace a fire alarm panel for an existing like panel, such as the same model number or a single zone, to single zone. 
  • Replacement of like devices or internal system components such as power supply or batteries, CPU, boards, modules, or ionization smoke detector to photoelectric smoke detector. 
  • Add a new zone into an existing fire alarm system