Was first approved back in November 2022 and in effect throughout the province, starting January 1, 2023.
However, even though it’s been approved and in effect, there are some municipalities that have yet to implement Bill 23 into their bylaws.
Below are the key points that I have gathered/summarized from Bill 23.
1. We can start doing Triplex Conversions!
Many investors I know already have a duplex but now they can convert it into a legal triplex. More doors, more money! An example would be to split a 2-bedroom unit into 2 bachelor units (or 2 – 1 bedroom if it’s over 1000 sq ft). Most of our bachelor units fall between 300-500 sqft and 1-bedrooms are 500-700 sqft. You’re probably thinking 300-500 sqft sounds too small, but it’s all in the kitchen design. There’s no code requirement for your kitchen size — we have worked with investors doing micro kitchens for their units (4′-6′ long kitchens). Therefore, we can shrink the kitchen for this open concept space so it doesn’t feel too small. The best bang for your buck would be splitting the main floor 2-bedroom unit. Another idea is to create a new 20×20 (400 sqft) rear side addition as your 3rd unit — that way, if you already have good tenants in your building, you don’t have to kick them out to split your unit.
2. No more Site Plan Control (SPC)!
Before Bill 23, many projects (residential/commercial) fell under site plan control, where the city wants us to prepare an application for them to review the site elements, parking, exterior design, landscaping, etc. But now, for residential projects under 10 units, we can skip this phase — this saves us 3-4 months of back and forth with the city staff, and cost! Note that a mixed-use building (residential/commercial), no matter the number of units, would still fall under SPC since it contains commercial occupancy. At this moment, I have a few ideas that could work/use this to our advantage. One idea is to buy 2 plots of land (empty or with existing building) and build 2 x 10plex side by side with a firewall between them (since by code, creating a firewall separates the 2 building entities). Therefore, from the outside it looks like a massive 20plex unit, but it’s really just 2 x 10plex, and we can share the parking lot/space for both buildings.
3. Committee of Adjustment (CoA) Changes to Who Can Appeal — “Specified Person”
Your neighbours can no longer appeal against your CoA — only specific people/companies like Hydro One, gas company, railway line, etc. This is especially helpful as we all know that some neighbours don’t like investors making money having multiple tenants in a building. So if we need to go to CoA for a zoning bylaw issue (parking, lot area, landscape area, etc.), we don’t have to worry about our neighbours speaking out.
4. Development Charges
The city wants their cut for your project. But now, your project is exempt from DC if you are doing a duplex, triplex, or a new laneway/converted garage! For projects that are 4 units or more, you will receive a discount (depending on the bedroom type): Bachelor/1 Bed gets a 15% discount, 2 Bed gets a 20% discount, and 3 Bed gets a 25% discount.
Tags: REI Law Update, Ontario, Bill 23
