Property tax & utility - mailing designate - letter of authorization - power of attorney

Mailing Designate (utility bills only)

If you own a property, you have the opportunity to have Utility Bills mailed to a designate. The owner must enrol in this service. This person could be a tenant, son or daughter, lawyer or accountant. To do this, you must agree to the terms and conditions in the Municipal Code, Chapter 849 Water and Sewage Services and Utility Bill, section 849-27D .

Download and save the Designate Mailing Request application form  available on the City of Toronto website. Where a Utility Bill  Designate agreement is in place, it is the designate (not the owner) who would be paying the additional bill fee, where applicable.

Up to 3 people may be added as designates, as long as a designate form and the landlord has advised to add the tenant. The tenant can advise the city to add an authorized agent on file that can speak on their behalf but this will require a letter in writing to add the name for our records.

  • An administrative Duplicate Utility Bill Fee will be applied to every utility bill issued to the designate.
  • The owner of the property and the designate will each receive a copy of the Utility Bill.
  • The City of Toronto reserves the right to cancel this Utility Bill Designate Mailing Request for any reason and at any time. 
  • Property owners remain responsible for the full payment of all water and sewer charges, even if the bill has been assigned to another person.
  • Property owners are responsible for keeping the City of Toronto informed of any changes regarding who is authorized to receive the water bill (i.e. if a new tenant moves in and replaces a previous tenant as the bills recipient).

Note: A designate can request to be removed from the account at any time, with or without a final reading. To remove the designate without finalizing the account, the request has to be sent via fax or regular mail.  The request has to clearly state that they do not want the account to be finalized, or there will be a final reading performed and associated fees will be applied to the account.

Letter of Authorization (LOA) - (property tax accounts and utility accounts)

  • A letter of authorization needs to come from the owner who is registered on title.
  • The owner needs to identify the name of the person that the City can speak to regarding either their tax or utility accounts or both.  
  • The letter needs to indicate the address of the property, the roll number and or utility account # and a signature from the owner is required so that the contract is official.

Power of Attorney (POA)

A Power of Attorney is a legal document in which you give someone you trust (called your “attorney”) the right to make decisions for you if something happens and you are no longer able to look after matters on your own.

Related Information:

Property tax & utility billing - change of ownership - address change