Laneway and Garden Suite Development Charges Deferral Program

As part of the Laneway and Garden Suites Initiative, the City launched the Development Charges Deferral Program for Ancillary Secondary Dwelling Units program to encourage eligible property owners to develop secondary/laneway suites.

The Development Charges (DC) Deferral Program for Ancillary Secondary Dwelling Units allows for a DC deferral for eligible property owners developing a secondary dwelling unit at the rear yard of a property. The DC would only be collected through creation of a new lot (Plan of Subdivision, Plan of Condominium and Consent to Sever) within 20 years of the issuance of the building permit. This Program was approved by Council in April of 2018.

  • property must be located within an area permitted by By-laws 810-2018 and 1210-2019
  • must conform with applicable zoning and other by-laws as determined by Toronto Building
  • must have applied for building permit
  • must enter into a DC Deferral for Ancillary Secondary Dwelling Units Agreement with the City

To find out if the proposed laneway suite on your property conforms with applicable zoning and other by-laws, contact Toronto Building.

  1. The applicant must apply for a building permit with Toronto Building.
  2. Once the applicant has applied for a building permit and reviewed the Agreement linked below, please contact Vincenzo Salatino, Housing Secretariat (Vincenzo.Salatino@toronto.ca) for an application form.
  3. After receipt of the application form, Housing Secretariat staff will determine and confirm eligibility for the Program.
  4. The City will prepare and courier four (4) copies of the Agreement to the applicant for signature.
  5. The applicant will mail four (4) signed copies of the Agreement back to the Housing Secretariat for execution.
  6. Two (2) copies of the executed Agreement will be sent back to the applicant. The applicant will need to retain a lawyer to register a Section 118 restriction of the Land Titles Act on title to the property. This restriction will require the City to provide consent with any transfer of the property.
  7. Once the Section 118 restriction has been registered on title, the applicant’s lawyer will need to provide to the Housing Secretariat the following:
    1. written confirmation that it has been registered, and
    2. registered instrument document.
  8. When these requirements have been satisfied, the Housing Secretariat will issue an electronic confirmation letter to the applicant. This letter must be present to Toronto Building upon building permit issuance.

If you intend to apply for this program, please do not pay your development charges as the City will not be able to credit back the fee.

Download the Development Charges Deferral Agreement Ancillary Secondary Dwelling Unit form.

Development Charges under this program will be deferred for 20 years from the date of issuance of the building permit. Within the 20 year period, development charges will need to be repaid if:

  • a new lot is created through a Plan of Subdivision, Plan of Condominium and Consent to Sever
  • the seller and owner do not enter into an Assumption Agreement before transfer of the property

The amount of development charges payable in an event of default is based on the single detached unit rate that is set out in the Development Charges By-Law plus annual indexing.

You can repay the Development charges at any time during the 20 year period. The amount payable will be the rate for a single detached unit as set out in the Development Charges By-Law plus annual indexing.

It takes between 15-20 business days to complete the application review. It is recommended that you apply to this program as soon as you apply for a building permit.

Due to insufficient provincial program funding, the Affordable Laneway Suites Program has been discontinued and is not expected to be reactivated.