Starting this month you need a license for your secondary suite in Mississauga

It’s the New Year and it’s an important one for landlords.

As we wrote earlier, beginning January 2nd, 2014 Mississauga landlords need to get a landlord license for your secondary suites.

You read that correctly.

The new program starts tomorrow. Here’s what the bylaw states:

Effective January 2, 2014, all second units in Mississauga require a license under Second Unit Licensing By-law 204-13 to ensure they are safe.

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Many Mississauga Landlords Are Unaware of the Licensing Plan

That’s right.

The City of Mississauga has some information on their webpage.

And you can read the actual Mississauga landlord license by-law on their site.

The Ontario Landlords Association interviewed government officials about landlord licensing and have a very helpful blog post that all Mississauga landlords should read to learn about landlord licensing.

Remind Us Of How This Came About

The Ontario Provincial government created a law require all municipalities in the province to create paths for landlords to legalize any second units in their homes.

We’ve seen some municipal governments use this as a way to propose landlord licensing as part of this path, such as what Hamilton landlords faced down last year.

It’s a growing trend there are now calls to license Ottawa landlords and secondary suites in places such as Windsor.

What Do They Mean By ‘Second Units’?

You can also call them:

1. Basement apartments

2. In-law Suites

3. Secondary Suites

On July 3rd of last year City Council approved of a plan for Mississauga landlords to create legal second units.

The new bylaw begins today and to have a legal secondary suite, basement apartment, on in-law unit in Mississauga you must have a license from the government.

Landlords Have Lots of Questions

We know.

We’ve seen the emails.

One of the most common questions is about fees and about investment rental properties.

Here’s the answer from the Ontario Landlords Association:

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Question:

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What are the fees if the homeowner lives in the house and rents out their basement compared to the owner not living there?

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Answer:

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1. Owner-Occupied Property

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If the owner lives in the dwelling, an application for a license for an owner-occupied dwelling can be submitted to the City.

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The license fee for a second unit in an owner- occupied dwelling is $500 with annual renewal fee of $250.

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2. Non-Owner Occupied Rental Property

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If the owner does not live in dwelling, an application for an investment dwelling will need to be submitted to the City.

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The requirement to live on the property only applies to the owner registered on title and not relations. The license fee for a second unit for an investment dwelling is $1000 with an annual renewal fee of $500. 

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Mississauga Landlords and Landlord Licensing

Are you aware of the new bylaw?

Do you agree with the new bylaw?

Are the fees to get a license fair?

These are questions we will keep our eyes on and report back in later posts.