5

On the Ontario government's Build or buy a tiny home webpage, there is a section called Factory-built tiny homes. In that section, there is a subsection titled Zoning:

Zoning

Check with your local municipality to make sure a tiny home is allowed on your property. If the zoning of your property does not allow for a tiny home, you could apply for a rezoning or minor variance from your municipality.

If you cannot obtain the appropriate zoning for your property, the municipality may prevent you from having a tiny home even if you have already purchased one.

As mentioned, the Zoning subsection is in the Factory-built tiny homes section.

Question:

Do the same rules apply to Tiny homes that are built on-site? In other words, does the municipality have the ability to reject a site-built tiny home plan (that complies with all other rules and codes) via zoning by-law restrictions? Or are site-built tiny homes considered to be regular homes in this context—if a full-size home is allowed by zoning, then site-built tiny homes are allowed too?

User1974
  • 247
  • 9

2 Answers2

11

This is answered on the Before You Start page in that same document you linked to. Of course, you'll have to check with the local planning and zoning departments of your municipality. A build-on-site tiny home will have get all the permits and other issues before the build starts. With a factory-built tiny home, the municipality has probably run into people just assuming they can add a tiny home without going through the permitting process.

Note: I'm not going to replicate the entire page here as there's a lot of information but here's a few bits.

Is your property suitable?

Some lots will not work for a tiny home. There are several reasons why this may be the case:

Local zoning by-laws may not permit adding a tiny home without further municipal approval (see section on Municipal zoning and other by-laws).

mkennedy
  • 1,679
  • 12
  • 19
11

You ask:

Can Ontario municipal zoning by-laws prohibit site-built tiny homes?

This is a question about what municipalities are allowed to do. Municipalities are creations of the province and all municipal powers are those delegated to them by the province. See Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2021 SCC 34, para. 2.

Therefore, to answer your question, we must look to what powers the Province of Ontario has conferred on municipalities in the Municipal Act and Planning Act.

The Planning Act gives municipalities the power to create zoning by-laws to:

  • regulate the type of construction "and the height, bulk, location, size, floor area, spacing, character and use of buildings or structures to be erected or located within the municipality (s. 34(1)4).

These by-laws apply no matter how the structure comes to be on the land. As just one example, the City of Guelph's Zoning By-law establishes that in RH.7 zones, the minimum floor area per dwelling unit is 37m2 if it is bachelor or 1-bedroom unit, and 60.5m2 if it is a unit with 2 or more bedrooms.

I emphasize that that is only an example. Municipalities have this power, so it is incumbent on any land user to check that their building and use is permitted by the local by-laws. Some municipalities may have no minimum floor space requirements. Some municipalities may exempt mobile homes or other categories of homes from other generally applicable requirements. Municipalities can be as fine-grained in their zoning restrictions as they have the will and attention for.

Jen
  • 87,647
  • 5
  • 181
  • 381