To address concerns about the potential of the main unit and basement apartment as rental housing, municipalities may consider a zoning provision requiring the primary unit or basement apartment to be owner-occupied. While this may be difficult to enforce, it could help address concerns about basement housing standards and their potential to negatively impact the existing character of neighbourhoods. If you are unsure whether your existing bedroom windows meet the safety requirements of the Code, or if you are doing a basement renovation that affects windows, it is always best to contact your municipal authorities. Local requirements may vary. The City of Hamilton allows legal basement apartments. Hamilton has a long-standing commitment to housing its residents through affordable housing and is one of Ontario`s most progressive cities when it comes to working with landlords and investors to comply with bi laws for secondary apartments. Legal basement apartments are allowed in single-family and two-family homes and must: First, if you intend to still occupy this unit, I would reconsider making it a “legal apartment” and focusing on having it as a bedroom room where you always comply with fire/building safety regulations. That alone would eliminate many of the headaches you have, and by default, if you`re renovating with the intention of being able to classify it as a legal apartment, you can still meet all the requirements, but only sign up if you intend to rent it out in the future. The name and telephone number of the building inspector are indicated on the building permit. A list of required inspections that can be performed based on the proposed finished basement can be found in the table below.
The requirement for an appropriately sized bedroom window has existed since 1980 and subsequent changes to the code since then have made it even easier to understand the definition of a bedroom exit window. Or is it the case? It depends on the code you are referring to. Regional requirements may differ from national regulations. The provincial government has made legal basement housing a priority because it recognizes it: there are two sets of rules governing the status of basement bedrooms. These codes, of course, govern the status of everything in the apartment, not just the basement rooms. These regulations are known as the Ontario Building Code (full text of the Act) and the Ontario Fire Code (full text of the Act). In general, the building code is a superset of the fire order. If you follow the building rules, you comply with the fire safety rules. Both regulations change over time, and your building must still comply with fire safety regulations, but does not need to be constantly renovated to follow building codes. In short, the window size required for exit is the same between the National Building Code and the Ontario Building Code. The requirements for the window shaft are also the same.
The main difference between the codes is that each bedroom with the National Building Code requires a means of exit, whereas the Ontario Building Code requires only one exit lane per level. In addition, the National Building Code requires that the height of the threshold from the ground not exceed 1,500 mm (59 inches), while the Ontario Building Code requires that the height of the threshold not exceed 1,000 mm (39 inches). If you`ve been paying attention to real estate news in recent years, you know that one of the hottest markets is the rental market. From bachelor parties to 2-bedroom apartments, the lack of available and suitable housing has created a need in some of Canada`s largest cities. For this reason, many people in and around Toronto and Montreal began to investigate whether their basement could be converted to a legal basement. The process of renting a legal basement can be overwhelming for new homeowners. But don`t worry: we`ve broken it down into easy-to-digest steps! Legal basement apartments are allowed in the city of Ajax in all residential areas except RM4, RM5, and RM6.To obtain a permit for a basement apartment, the following requirements must meet: Given that parking issues are perhaps the most important issue related to legal basement apartments, Parking requirements must be included in the municipal zoning ordinance. Specifically, municipalities may consider requiring at least one off-street parking space for the basement apartment.
However, if properties are smaller and narrower in some subdivisions, this can completely limit the construction of basement apartments. Therefore, eliminating parking requirements in basement apartments is an option in some areas, although this can become a significant issue as overnight street parking is not allowed in most residential areas. Another challenge in the development of parking spaces for basement apartments is that the municipal zoning ordinance currently sets maximum widths of entrances and requires that a certain portion of the front yard be preserved as an unpaved “landscaped open space”. When an exit window from the basement is needed, confuses many people with many different thoughts about what is acceptable. Although I have written a number of articles on the subject, I still meet with real estate agents who will give their opinion on basement window requirements based on “hearsay” against the facts of the Ontario Building Code. This type of confusion often occurs when people without formal training advise buyers on building code requirements when buying a home. In Ontario, a legal basement apartment is a secondary unit that meets the requirements of the Ontario Building Code. If your property meets the zoning codes of your area and your building is more than five years old, your second unit will need the following: Let`s go back to the original question about this basement room.
If you`re asking for a bedroom in the basement of the home you want to sell or buy, here`s what you really want to know: If you require the services of a Development Information Officer, please call 613-580-2424 ext. 23434 or dioinquiry@ottawa.ca I just have a legal basement in my semi-detached house in Brampton, But I am not registered with the city. Are you okay? I have all the inspections of the city done. Did you know:”. A bedroom in Ontario does not need an exit window in the bedroom! The answer is. It depends on what you are really asking. This week there was an interesting discussion in the closed Facebook group for brokers in Ottawa on this topic. It all started with an agent asking how big the window of a basement bedroom must be to legally designate the room as a bedroom in the list.
International Residential CodeThe International Residential Code (IRC) used in the United States is still different. The IRC states that at least one window in each room must be large enough for residents to escape a fire AND also to enter a fully equipped firefighter. The window size must also be larger than Canadian requirements. An exit window must meet the four criteria of the International Residential Code (IRC): So if the basement room is less than 4 feet from the property line and the window does not open wide enough and/or the window shaft is not large enough to allow evacuation, that basement room is NOT a bedroom and cannot be sold as such. Each basement room with exit must be separated from any other adjacent floor area or other exit by a fire barrier equal to or greater than the fire class for the floor assembly above the basement room. If the room in the basement is located in a separate apartment, then the fire class of the components between floors (at the time of writing) should not be less than 1 hour. Therefore, all doors between rooms must also have a fire rate of at least 1 hour. In a normal apartment (e.g. House) the fire class between floors is 45 minutes.