What records explain accessory dwelling units at an Ajax home?

Section 4.4 of the Town's Zoning By-law 95-2003, as amended by By-law 23-2025, permits accessory dwelling units on a residential lot in addition to the principal dwelling unit, in six configurations: one, two or three attached units; one detached unit on its own; or one detached unit with one or two attached units. Attached units sit within a detached, semi-detached, linked villa, street townhouse, block townhouse or live-work dwelling. A detached unit must be at least 3.0 metres from any other building on the lot and smaller in ground floor area than the main home. Neither kind is permitted on lands the conservation authority determines to be hazardous, such as land within the regulatory flood limits or erosion hazard limits.

The parking table in Section 5 asks for no extra space for the first accessory unit on a lot and one space for each unit beyond the first. The by-law says what zoning permits. A general permission does not make an existing basement apartment lawful; the building permit and its inspections are the records that do.

• Zoning By-law 95-2003, Section 4: section 4.4, accessory dwelling units, March 2026 consolidation (PDF)
• Zoning By-law 95-2003, Section 5: the parking table, with the spaces for accessory units (PDF)
• Zoning By-law: the Town's page with every section, the zoning maps and how to read them

Extra units allowed is in the free check as a summary of the Town's rule, from our hand-kept table of city rules, and the full report reads the lot's zone where the Town's zoning map is open data we can use; where it isn't, the report's line says where the Town publishes it. Neither is confirmation that a particular unit holds a permit or may be occupied.

Free check: pick “Extra units allowed” See the sample report