Many Toronto renovations need a building permit, but plenty don’t, and guessing wrong can mean extra fees or reopening finished work. Ontario’s Building Code Act requires a permit before anyone constructs or demolishes a building, and the City applies that to additions and material alterations. This guide sorts common projects, explains the separate plumbing, HVAC and electrical approvals, and covers the City’s 2026 fees, review times and inspections.
Projects that need a permit
In a kitchen renovation or bathroom renovation, new cabinets and replacement fixtures in the same spots need no permit. Moving or removing walls, adding new plumbing or changing the heating system does. Toronto Building’s list is not exhaustive, but these common projects need a permit:
- Adding or removing walls, which the City treats as a structural or material alteration.
- New window or door openings, and enlarging or relocating existing ones.
- Installing or modifying plumbing or heating systems.
- Additions, including second or third storeys, attached garages, carports, sunrooms, porches and decks.
- Finishing a basement when the work includes structural changes, new or modified plumbing or heating, underpinning or new foundations, a basement entrance or a second suite.
- Decks more than 60 cm (24 in) above the ground. Our deck permit guide covers the details.
- Sheds of 15 m² (161 sq ft) or more, and other accessory buildings over 10 m² (107 sq ft) such as detached garages, workshops and pool houses. An accessory structure that is attached or has plumbing needs a permit at any size.
- Retaining walls more than 1 m high on or next to public property or a building entrance, or on private property the public can access.
- Demolishing all or part of a building, building a chimney, installing a wood-burning fireplace or stove, and installing a backwater valve or backflow preventer.
Turning a single-unit house into one with more units is a change of use, and a change of use needs a permit even if no construction is planned. Our guide to adding a legal basement unit walks through that process.
Projects that don’t need a permit
These jobs don’t need a building permit in Toronto, although they still have to meet the zoning by-law:
- Installing cabinetry and millwork, and repairing or replacing plumbing fixtures.
- Replacing roofing material, as long as no structural work is needed.
- Replacing a window or door in its existing opening in a detached, semi-detached or row house with one unit, if the size and location stay the same, the structural support isn’t affected and no new exit is created.
- Finishing a basement with no structural changes, no new plumbing and no additional unit.
- Adding or replacing insulation, basement waterproofing repairs and installing a sump pump.
- A shed of no more than 15 m² and one storey that isn’t attached to anything, has no plumbing and is used only for storage.
- An uncovered deck or platform no more than 60 cm above the ground that isn’t part of a required exit.
- A retaining wall under 1 m high, or one on private property the public can’t access.
These lists are Toronto’s. Vaughan, Mississauga and Richmond Hill run their own building departments and draw some lines differently: Mississauga and Richmond Hill, for example, list finishing a basement as permit work, and Vaughan requires a permit for all structural alterations in a home.
Permits that run alongside the building permit
The building permit covers construction. Plumbing, heating and electrical work have their own approvals:
- Plumbing and drains. In Toronto, related plumbing and drain permits are filed with the building permit, using a Plumbing Data Sheet, at no additional fee. Site work outside the house, such as a new water service or sewer piping, is charged separately.
- HVAC. A related mechanical permit is filed the same way, with system layouts, heat-loss and heat-gain calculations and duct design, at no additional fee unless a specialty system is involved.
- Electrical. This needs its own permit, separate from the building permit: almost all electrical work must be reported to the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) with a notification of work before it starts. If you hire anyone to do electrical work in your home, Ontario law requires an ECRA/ESA-licensed electrical contractor, who files the notification and has the work reviewed.
What goes into the application
For an interior alteration to a house, Toronto asks for drawings on standard-size sheets, drawn to scale, fully dimensioned, signed and dated, and submitted as PDFs through the City’s online application service. A typical package includes:
- The Application for a Permit to Construct or Demolish.
- Floor plans of each level showing existing and proposed room uses, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, plumbing fixtures and the structural framing above.
- Cross-sections and construction details for floor, wall and roof assemblies, stairs, guards and handrails.
- A site plan if you are adding a second suite or new openings.
- Schedule 1 for a qualified designer, or an Assumption of Responsibility for Engineering Content form when an engineer seals the drawings.
- A Plumbing Data Sheet if plumbing is involved, and the Rental Renovation Licence Screening Form, which the City requires with every permit to repair or renovate a residential unit.
Leave your name and phone number off the plans: permit drawings can be disclosed under Ontario’s municipal freedom of information law.
Who draws the plans matters. Under the Building Code Act, only people with the Building Code’s designer qualifications may prepare designs for a permit application; licensed architects and professional engineers are exempt. A qualified designer’s drawings must show their name, registration number, Building Code Identification Number (BCIN), signature and a statement taking responsibility for the design, and qualified designers are listed on the province’s public QuARTS registry. Exempt owners can draw their own plans; Toronto’s designer form asks them to state why.
Review times and 2026 fees
Toronto Building sorts house applications into review streams:
- Express Services covers smaller jobs on a house with up to two units and no active permit for a new house or addition, such as interior alterations, decks and porches, sheds and detached garages, basement walkouts, underpinning and one-to-two-unit conversions. The City aims to review these within 3 business days.
- The House Stream handles other house projects, such as home additions. Complete applications are reviewed within 10 business days, but an application only counts as complete once it includes an issued Zoning Applicable Law Certificate (ZAP). There is no time frame for incomplete applications.
- When a professional engineer seals the drawings for a house, the City carries out an expedited review that relies on the seal.
Fees are mostly charged per square metre of the work, with a minimum of $214.79 in 2026. Rates for houses include:
- Interior alterations: $11.53/m² of the area affected.
- Finishing a basement: $6.20/m².
- Additions: $18.56/m², plus $56.33 for each new residential unit.
- Decks, porches and carports: $214.79. Detached garages and accessory structures: $214.79 each.
- A ZAP for a house addition or alteration: $644.38.
Inspections and closing the permit
Once the permit is issued, you or your contractor call for an inspection at each stage, and the City inspects within two business days of the request. Keep the stamped plans on site and don’t cover anything before it passes; work closed up too early has to be opened again. Depending on the project, the stages include:
- Footings before concrete is poured, and new foundations when complete.
- Structural framing, together with the plumbing and HVAC rough-ins.
- Fire separations before interior finishes, and insulation and vapour barrier when complete.
- Final interior and exterior inspections, plus final plumbing and HVAC inspections.
ESA reviews the electrical work separately: wiring has to be inspected before it is concealed, and ESA issues a Certificate of Acceptance when the work passes. When the job is finished, book the final building inspection to close the permit. Toronto Building warns that open permits can hold up a future sale and complicate later permit applications.
The risks of skipping a permit
As the owner, you are ultimately responsible for meeting building requirements. The City warns that unpermitted work can lead to costly delays, legal action or removal of finished work. The rules behind that warning:
- Toronto adds a charge when construction starts before a permit is issued: 50% of the permit fee or $214.79, whichever is greater, up to $29,456.99 per permit.
- The chief building official can order work built without a permit to be uncovered for inspection at the expense of those responsible, and can order the work to stop if an order is ignored.
- A conviction under the Building Code Act can bring a fine of up to $50,000 for a first offence and $100,000 for a later one. For a corporation, the maximums are $500,000 and $1,500,000.
- An order can be registered on title, and anyone who later acquires an interest in the property is treated as having been served with it.
How MKC can help
MKC Group’s engineering department prepares the drawings and applies for the permits on our projects, working alongside the crews who build, so one team takes your renovation from the first drawing to the final walkthrough. We work across Toronto, North York, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Mississauga and the wider GTA. Call (647) 637-6052 or request a free estimate.