Legal Basements in Mississauga

A building permit for the unit, applied for with drawings at Mississauga’s own building department rather than Peel Region. The stairwell for a new entrance changes the grade beside the house, which Mississauga’s lot grading by-law governs, so the grading plan is checked first and the building permit follows. We prepare and file the set and deal with the examiner’s comments.

Only where the lot is inside Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) regulation, near a watercourse, a valley or a floodplain. Digging a stairwell down to the basement changes the grade there, and the CVC permit may be needed before Mississauga issues the building permit. Eastern Mississauga along Etobicoke Creek is under the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. For a lot there, we read that authority’s mapping instead, before the entrance is drawn.

In Mississauga, owners of a detached, semi-detached or town home can build up to two additional residential units: either two inside the home, or one inside the home plus one detached garden suite. Only one garden suite is allowed per lot. For townhouses, garden suites are limited to corner or through lots, and additional units are not permitted in standard condominium townhouses. The house type matters as much as the basement here, so we confirm yours is one the rule covers before any drawing starts.

Yes. We take on legal basements across Mississauga, including Port Credit and Streetsville, within an hour of our Richmond Hill office. The first consultation is free, by phone or on site.

Three things to start: property address; basement ceiling height, measured floor to joist; and photos of the basement, the mechanical room and the outside wall where an entrance could go. Send those and we tell you what the City of Mississauga Planning and Building Department will ask for before we quote.

The unit is planned to the same additional unit rules as anywhere in Mississauga, and the district adds a check on the outside of the house. In Meadowvale Village, Old Port Credit Village and Streetsville, the areas designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, a new side door, an entrance stair or larger basement windows are visible from the street, so we ask the city what the district expects of them before they are drawn. The set is then filed through ePlans.

Through ePlans, the city’s online building permit system. We upload one set with the floor plans, fire separation and exit details, the alarm layout, heating for both units and a site plan showing the entrance. While the Planning and Building Department reviews it, you can see the status in ePlans under Project info.

Ontario’s O. Reg. 299/19 asks for one space for each additional unit’s occupant, and that space may be in tandem, one car parked behind another. It does not apply where the zoning by-law requires no parking for the main house, or says the unit is to have none. Your lot’s standards are in Mississauga Zoning By-law 0225-2007, which has been amended many times, so we read the current text for your zone and measure the driveway against it before the Planning and Building Department sees the set.

Usually, by applying for the unit as though it were new. We draw what is there and what has to change and upload that set through ePlans. Inspectors from the City of Mississauga Planning and Building Department may ask for parts of walls or ceilings to be opened so they can see the framing, wiring and fire separations, and we do the corrective work under the permit.

Yes. O. Reg. 299/19 lets anyone live in an additional unit, owner or tenant, whether or not they are family, and Mississauga counts the basement as one of the lot’s two additional units whoever moves in. Who lives where does not change the drawings or the inspections from the Planning and Building Department, so you can decide once the unit is finished.