Lakeshore: questions buyers ask
What records explain additional residential units at a Lakeshore home?
Zoning By-law 2-2012 as amended by ZBA-80-2024 for additional residential units, as summarised on the Municipality's ARU page, and By-law 82-2025 (ZBA-08-2025) with Official Plan Amendment 22 for four units.
Sources checked October 29, 2026
The rule in Lakeshore
Lakeshore zoning by-law 2-2012 (ZBA-80-2024; 82-2025): permits attached and basement additional residential units with a single detached, semi-detached or townhouse dwelling in every residential and agricultural zone and detached ones in residential zones (at most 50% of the main home to 120 m², 6.5 m high) and the agricultural zone (to 140 m²); none in basements on hazard lands; two parking spaces for the main home and one per unit; By-law 82-2025 permits up to four units on fully serviced urban lots.
From Lakeshore by-law 2-2012 (ZBA-80-2024; 82-2025), checked 29 Oct 2026
- The recordAdditional residential units
- Where to read itAdditional Residential Units (ARUs); Notice of Passing: OPA 22 Four Units As of Right and 1 more
- The free check reads itPick “Extra units allowed”
What the record shows
The Municipality's page says the Planning Act permits up to three residential units as of right on a residential lot in a settlement area served by municipal water and sewers, and that Lakeshore amended its Official Plan and Zoning By-law 2-2012 to match. Its table lets an attached or basement unit go in every residential, waterfront, hamlet, central, mixed-use, urban reserve and agricultural zone, a detached unit in the residential zones (at most 50% of the main home's floor area to 120 m², 6.5 m high) and in the agricultural zone (to 140 m², 7.5 m high). Properties designated hazard lands in the Official Plan may not have a unit in a basement or cellar. The main home needs two parking spaces and each unit one more; a lot keeps one water service, one meter and one address, with the unit lettered B or D.
A lot on a septic system needs a septic review by a licensed installer or a new or larger system, and the page names the Essex Region and Lower Thames Valley conservation authorities' approval where a lot is in a regulated area. It also says an additional unit may not be rented as a vacation rental. On 4 November 2025 Council adopted By-law 82-2025 (ZBA-08-2025) and Official Plan Amendment 22 to permit up to four units on a lot in fully serviced urban residential and mixed-use areas; the notice says the Plan amendment goes to the County of Essex for approval. A general permission does not make an existing unit lawful; the building permit and inspections are the records that do.
Where to read it yourself
- Additional Residential Units (ARUs): the Municipality's page on where units are permitted, sizes, parking, septic and permits
- Notice of Passing: OPA 22 Four Units As of Right: By-law 81-2025 adopting Official Plan Amendment 22, sent to the County of Essex for approval
- Council Meeting Summary: November 4, 2025: By-laws 81-2025 and 82-2025 for up to four units on a lot
What OfferDue covers in Lakeshore
Extra units allowed is in the free check as a summary of the Municipality's rule, from our hand-kept table of city rules, and the full report reads the lot's zone where the Municipality's zoning map is open data we can use; where it isn't, the report's line says where the Municipality 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
Public-record information, not legal, financial, insurance or inspection advice. Records change and can be incomplete, and this page describes the records, not any particular home. What we cover, city by city.