What records explain second units, third units and garden suites at a Brampton home?

The City's page says second and third units are permitted in detached, semi-detached and townhouse dwellings, subject to zoning, and that since May 2023 the by-law allows at most three units on a property, counting the principal dwelling: the main home with one attached second unit and one detached garden suite, or with two attached units. A garden suite starts with the Planning Division before a building permit. To be legal, every second unit, third unit and garden suite must be registered with the City, whoever lives in it, and the City says no unit may be rented or occupied until a Residential Rental Licence is issued; licence applications are free.

Council approved a new Comprehensive Zoning By-law, 14-2026, on 4 February 2026, and it is under appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Until the appeals are resolved, the City says both By-law 270-2004 and By-law 14-2026 apply, the more restrictive provision of each taking precedence. Since April 2024 a unit on land regulated by Credit Valley Conservation or the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority also needs that authority's approval. A general permission does not make an existing basement apartment lawful; registration and a building permit are the records that do.

• Additional residential units: the City's page on unit limits, registration, rental licences and conservation authority approval
• Zoning: the City's page on By-law 270-2004, By-law 14-2026 under appeal, and the zoning maps

Extra units allowed is in the free check as a summary of the City's rule, from our hand-kept table of city rules, and the full report reads the lot's zone where the City's zoning map is open data we can use; where it isn't, the report's line says where the City 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