Legal suites are constructed with proper permits and meet all the rules at the time they were constructed and these suites still meet the present day rules. They may also have been approved on a development permit allowing relaxations of the rules.
The current by-law for R-2 zoning has three requirements that must be met for a suited property to be of legal use.
- The front footage must be a minimum of 15 metres or 50 feet
- The total square footage on the lot must be a minimum of 5000 square feet
- The building must meet today’s building codes and requirements and all permits have been taken out properly
For instance, for a basement suite today you need a separate furnace for the basement and various requirements for fire rating, etc. Therefore, a legal suite would be one in which all the proper permits were taken out at the time of construction; the property was constructed pursuant to today’s building codes and meets all those requirements and thirdly, that you have the minimum frontage and square footage requirements discussed above. In those circumstances, if you have an up/down suite or a side-by-side suite on such a property and it meets all these requirements, it would be considered a legal suite. The City has authority to amend or relax its bylaws to allow and approve development permits. Therefore, a property could be considered of legal use even if it does not strictly comply with today’s bylaws, provided a relaxation was granted at the time a development permit was granted.