Laneway houses in Toronto
Lots are narrow, side passages are tight, and material often comes in from the street or a rear lane, so the site plan is written before the first delivery. The garage comes down, the services are trenched from the house or the street, and the new house goes up at the back of the lot with deliveries from the lane. A laneway house is a self-contained home at the back of a lot that fronts a public lane, built where the garage stood, and the lot check comes before anything is drawn.
Toronto, on the ground.
Toronto's stock runs from 1890s brick semis downtown to 1950s bungalows at the edges, on lots that are rarely wider than 30 feet. In Toronto that means checking the lane, the fire access route and the lot depth against the rules before the design starts. In Toronto the usual brief is a second storey on a semi, a rear addition with a new kitchen, or a laneway suite behind a house that already has one.
Read more about building in Toronto or the full laneway houses page.
On the drawing.
A lot check against the laneway by-law: lane frontage, fire access route, setbacks, height, lot depth
Engineered drawings and a rendering of the laneway house
Building permit filed and followed by us, with the demolition permit for the garage
Foundation, framing, envelope, roof, mechanical, electrical and finishes
Services from the main house or the street as the drawings call for
A deficiency walk with the list closed before the last payment, and a written warranty
Paper first.
A laneway house needs a building permit with engineered drawings and a demolition permit for the garage, and the fire access route is part of the review. Toronto Building issues the permit, and any design outside the zoning envelope goes to the Committee of Adjustment first, so the zoning check comes before the drawings are final.
- A building permit with engineered drawings is required, plus a demolition permit for the garage.
- In Toronto, laneway suites are permitted as-of-right on qualifying lots under the City's by-law; a lot outside the rules goes to the Committee of Adjustment.
- The fire access route from the street is part of the permit review.
- Other municipalities have their own additional residential unit rules. [Kam confirms which ones Savino has built under.]
The paperwork wall: WSIB, insurance, licences, the HCRA status and the warranty, on one page and dated.
| Driver | What we look at |
|---|---|
| Storeys and floor area | One storey or two, and how much of the allowed footprint is used. |
| Services | Water, sewer, gas and hydro run from the main house or from the street, and the distance sets the trenching. |
| Fire access | The route for a fire hose from the street decides whether sprinklers or other measures are needed. |
| The old garage | Demolition and whether the old slab and footings can go. |
| Finish level | Kitchen, bathroom and flooring chosen from the catalogue. |
No price per square foot on this site. The lot check and the drawings set the number.
It needs lane frontage, a fire access route from the street and the setbacks and lot depth the rules call for. We check the lot before drawings. [Kam confirms the Toronto rules Savino has built under.]
the City of Toronto (Toronto Building) issues the building permit and the demolition permit for the garage, and the fire access route is part of the review.
It depends on whether the design fits the zoning envelope. A design inside the by-law goes through as a building permit; one outside it goes to the Committee of Adjustment first, which adds months. [Kam confirms typical Toronto permit timing.]
Often, yes. The shared wall is the engineering question: the new floor loads onto a party wall the neighbour also owns, so the drawings have to show how the load is carried without touching their side. We check the by-law height limit for the street before you commit to drawings.