Brandon Donnelly

Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

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Toronto approves city-wide expansion of laneway suites

This a big month for laneway (housing) advocates in Toronto. Last week, City Council voted in favor of expanding the policy provisions for laneway suites to all Neighbourhoods within the city. (Neighbourhood is a defined term in the city’s Official Plan.)

Previously, the policies — which allow laneway suites to be built as-of-right — only applied to the Toronto & East York Districts. Here’s a copy of the recent staff report in case you would like more information.

On Monday, my friend Alex Sharpe (of Lanescape) was on BNN Bloomberg talking about why this is a good thing for the city. Alex and the rest of the team at Lanescape have been instrumental in these policy changes.

If you’re a Toronto homeowner with a property that fronts onto a laneway, I would encourage you to consider this opportunity. It’s a way to increase the value of your home and it’s a way to create more rental housing in this city.

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7 responses to “Toronto approves city-wide expansion of laneway suites”

  1. NANCY COHEN Avatar
    NANCY COHEN

    Is there a clear plan on how these laneway houses will be services? Where I live in Cabbagetown, the city of Toronto takes no responsibility for the snowplowing, seldom replaces street lights, does not pick up garbage nor clean the laneway, and has never filled in pot holes. I suspect it is no different in the rest of the city.

    What happens if there is a fire? the fire trucks could not make it down many of these lanes?

    Reply
    1. Brandon Graham Donnelly Avatar
      Brandon Graham Donnelly

      Serviced via main house and fire access is certainly. Being considered through proximity to nearest hydrant

      Reply
  2. mageller Avatar
    mageller

    There are tax consequences of building laneway houses that few understand. If unit is for rent, owner must pay GST on development costs. This may seem reasonable. But the must also self-assess GST on proportionate land value. Really! Moreover, when a principal residence with laneway house is sold (and declared on subsequent income tax filing) the principal residence exemption does not apply to the laneway house. So capital gains tax may need to be paid. Few in Vancouver know about this and will be in for a shock. We need to change the GST regs related to land.

    If the unit is for a family member, the tax rules are a bit different

    Reply
  3. Janet Donnelly Avatar
    Janet Donnelly

    Brandon after years of effort your dream will materialize. Bravo!!!!

    Reply
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    […] is only 49.00m2. And the total floor area is 79.36m2. This is the kind and scale of housing that is now permissible on many of Toronto’s laneways. And here, in Tokyo, you can see that it serving as a family […]

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    […] less than 1,000 square feet. So this is a bit of a unique circumstance. As most of you know, I am a big supporter of this […]

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  6. Eliminating single-family zoning | BRANDON DONNELLY

    […] 2040 plan (though it has been contentious). And, of course, here in Toronto we recently rolled out laneway suites all across the city. Small scale multi-family dwellings are also already permissible in some areas (though few are […]

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