BY-LAWS, PLANNING, COMMITTEE OF ADJUSTMENTS
By: Jayson Schwarz LLM
Your local municipality is one of the major influences that affects your present or future home. A by-law is a law passed by a municipality to create the rules under which it will operate and to achieve a variety of purposes.
The planning department in a municipality will recommend to its council growth patterns, traffic handling, will help to generate the long term planning goals that will regulate the various uses that different lands will be put and generally establish everything relating to land use you could think of. Council will then enact a by-law to give efficacy to those intentions. As an example one kind of by-law is a zoning by-law. These are laws that regulate land use within the municipal boundaries. In other words as an example: what will the city allow a on this lot: a house, a factory or a high rise condo building? What will be the set backs, the density or height restrictions? The City uses zoning by-laws to execute its land use planning intentions.
When buying a resale home there are many things to check out, zoning and other city by-laws are among those things. What does that mean? What if that beautiful deck in the back yard was constructed without a building permit? What if you want to build an extension? In both cases by-laws will have a significant impact. In the first you may end up with an Order that the deck be removed after you buy and in the second you may be prevented from putting on the extension because it may be to close to the lot setbacks or maximum coverage. The next and most obvious question must then be, how do I protect myself?
One way is through the survey: when you make the offer make sure it says “current survey, or survey showing all structures on the property to be provided by vendor”. Don’t let anyone tell you that this is covered by title insurance because it still doesn’t solve all of the problems. Check to determine on the survey whether the structures on the property are on the survey. If not you will need to find out whether they were legally constructed. Then ensure your lawyer speaks to you about what you want to do with the property before the offer is final.
This is extremely serious, I once had a dentist come to me after he had seen another lawyer and had purchased a condominium that he thought could be used for his dental practice. It turned out that although it was zoned commercial a dental office was not allowed. It took months and many thousands of dollars to sort out the mess.
One of the best things to do when purchasing a resale home is to go to the municipal zoning department and ask to purchase the zoning by-law. You can study your area and the particular zoning requirements that apply to the property you are purchasing. You can also determine through examining maps and zoning designations what is allowed around you. At the same time ask to see the “Official Plan” which is the master blueprint for properties in your municipality. Also remember, that there may be more than 1 layer and you may have to check regional levels as well (ie – Clarington has its own rules but is part of the Region of Durham and the Region’s decisions will affect a homeowner in Clarington)
What happens if you encounter a zoning issue and want to overcome it? Normally and providing the issue can be resolved through a variation minor in nature an application can be made to the local Committee of Adjustments and the Committee is empowered in law to grant variances minor in nature. If you lose at Committee or a neighbour obtains a disagreeable decision, an appeal is allowed to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Good luck and happy home hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!