Property lookup · For investors
See what a lot can become before you make an offer
The value of an investment property often depends on what you can add: a second or third unit, a garden suite, a severance, a larger building. Whether you can is set by the zone, the lot, and the maps that sit on top of it. Finding out after the deal closes is expensive.
Enter an address to see the zone and what it permits, the lot against the zone's minimums, and the floodplain, heritage and planning constraints that would hold up a permit.
What to check before an offer
- Permitted uses and units. Which dwelling types the zone allows, how many units, and the rules for additional residential units.
- The lot against the minimums. Lot area and frontage beside the zone's minimums, setbacks, height and lot coverage, which decide how much you can build and whether a severance is worth asking about.
- Site-specific exceptions. Many lots carry an exception that changes individual numbers. The report says when a lot has one.
- Floodplain and regulated area. Work in a conservation authority's regulated area needs the authority's permit; in a floodway new buildings are generally not allowed.
- Heritage. A designated property or a heritage district means a heritage permit for exterior work and demolition.
- What's coming nearby. The Official Plan designation, transit station areas, and rezoning and site plan applications within a few hundred metres.
Then ask the specific question
After the lookup, ask about the same property: “Can I add a basement unit and a garden suite?”, “What would a rear addition need?”, “How much lot coverage is left?” The answer cites the by-law or the Building Code it rests on. To check a set of drawings against the Building Code before you apply, upload them for a review.
What it doesn't tell you
Prices, sale history and MPAC assessments, title and liens, servicing capacity, soil and environmental condition, and work orders are outside what public zoning and map data can show. See the due diligence checklist for where to get each.
Cities covered
BramptonMississaugaTorontoOakvilleCaledonHamiltonBurlingtonVaughanCambridge
Questions
- How many units can I build on a residential lot in Ontario?
- Since the Planning Act changes of 2022, a serviced residential lot with a detached, semi-detached or row house can generally have up to three units: up to two in the main building and one in an accessory building. Some cities allow more in some zones, and some lots are excluded. The lookup shows what the zone on the lot you're looking at permits.
- Can I tell whether a lot can be severed?
- The lookup gives the lot's frontage and area and the zone's minimums, which tells you whether two lots that each meet the minimums could fit. That is a starting point only: a severance needs a consent from the Committee of Adjustment, which also weighs servicing, the Official Plan and the neighbourhood.
- Is the information current?
- Zoning, parcels, permits and map layers come live from the city and agency services when you look up an address. Zone standards are transcribed from the published by-law and checked a second time; where a city's published by-law is old (Cambridge publishes a 2012 consolidation of By-law 150-85), the zone page says so.
A first look, not a legal opinion, a survey or a substitute for the city's own records. Confirm with the municipality before you rely on it.