When a building permit is required

A permit is required prior to building, demolishing or installing any of the following:

• Addition to an existing building
• Backflow preventer
  • Backflow prevention devices are required under the authority of the Region of Peel’s Backflow Prevention By-law 10-2017 and the Ontario Building Code. The purpose of this by-law is to prevent backflow into the Region’s Municipal Drinking Water System to maintain clean and safe drinking water. For more information on the By-law and the Backflow Prevention Program, please visit the Region of Peel website.
• Balcony – either constructing one on a house, apartment or condo, or replacing or repairing guards on an apartment or condo
• Basement including:
  • Finishing a basement to create rooms or living space
  • Basement apartment (also known as second unit)
  • Excavating to increase existing headroom
• Below grade entrance or basement walkout
• Building or structure (other than a shed) greater than 10 square metres, or any size that contains plumbing
• Change the use of a building
• Communication or transmission tower or antenna greater than 16.6 metres high above ground level
• Deck greater than 0.61 metres (2 feet) high
• Detached garage
• Doors – either adding a new door or increasing the size of an existing one
• Dormers
• Dust collector
• Fire alarm system
• Fire damage repair
• Fire suppression system
• Furnace replacement that’s of a higher efficiency than existing
• Furnace ducts being altered
• Garage
• Gas fireplace used for heating
• Gazebo greater than 10 square metres
• Generator connected to life safety equipment like fire alarms or emergency lighting
• Geothermal system
• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system
• Interior alterations
• Kitchen exhaust
• Loading dock
• Maglocks
• Mezzanine
• Parking structure, like a multi-level parking lot
• Patio for a restaurant
• Plumbing fixture like a sink, tub, toilet, or shower that’s added, removed or relocated
• Plumbing drainage – install, replace or repair
• Porch that’s covered
• Private sewage system – install, replace or repair
• Re-cladding a building with new material, for example changing siding to brick
• Roof extensions or alterations to increase the height or change the slope
• Rooftop HVAC replacements
• Satellite dish attached to a building, or a dish with an area equal to or greater than 5 square metres
• Shed greater than 15 square metres or any size that contains plumbing
• Second unit, also called a basement apartment
• Sewer systems – install, repair or replace
• Shoring and excavation
• Site servicing
• Skylights
• Solar panels
• Spray booths
• Sprinklers
• Sump pump on a property in the Foundation Drainage Collection (FDC) System area
• Temporary tents greater than 60 square metres
• Underpinning foundation walls
• Weeping tile repairs or changes on a property in the Foundation Drainage Collection (FDC) System area
• Windows – either new or increasing the size of an existing window
• Wood burning fireplace

• Cabinetry or cupboards
• Concrete pad
• Damp-proof a basement
• Deck less than 600 mm (2 feet) in height
• Decorations
• Doors – replacing an existing one with the same size
• Driveway – either widening or resurfacing
• Eavestrough, if the drainage is contained within the property
• Fence
• Fireplace that’s decorative gas
• Gazebo that’s 10 square metres or less
• Landscaping work
• Minor masonry repairs
• Painting
• Parking lots without catch basins that are new, expansions, or painting new lines
• Plumbing fixture replacement in the same location, for example a sink, tub, toilet, or shower
• Re-cladding a building with the same material, for example siding to siding, or brick to brick
• Re-shingling a roof
• Retaining wall less than one metre high
• Shed less than 15 square metres, one-storey tall, free-standing, doesn’t contain plumbing and used for storage only
• Windows – replacing an existing one with the same size