Your Complete Guide To Tiny Homes In Canada

Remember when tiny homes were all the rage? Well, honestly, they still are! With the housing prices skyrocketing, the prospect of tiny homes that are cheaper to both build and maintain is an appealing one. Whether people are wanting to live in a tiny home as their main residence or add a tiny home as a separate structure to their property for additional income, tiny homes are a great option for many Canadians.

Tiny homes can either be built on-site or can be factory-built and then brought to a property. They are small, private, self-contained dwellings. Any sort of small, seasonal residence, such as an RV, trailer, or cottage, is not considered to be a tiny home.

Your Tiny Home Must

Even though your home is tiny, there are still things that are required for it to be considered a home. Luckily people with tiny homes are very efficient with the small amount of space that they have so these things are pretty standard for most tiny homes. To be considered a residence, your tiny home must…

Include a bathroom
Include a kitchen
Have an area for sleeping
Be intended for year-round use
Comply with the health and safety requirements of Ontario’s Building Code
Have essential servicing, such as water and sewage

The Size

While the exact specifications of what size your tiny home can be varied by municipality, Ontario’s Building Code states that a tiny home cannot be smaller than 17.5 meters squared (which is 188 square feet).

If you’re building a tiny home that has separate spaces for each function, your living area must be a minimum of 145 square feet. Your dining area must be a minimum of 75 square feet. Your kitchen must be a minimum of 45.2 square feet. Your bedroom must be a minimum of 95 square feet. Any additional bedrooms must be a minimum of 75 square feet. Your bathroom must have enough space for a sink, toilet, and shower (or bath).

For open concept homes, your combined sleeping, living, kitchen, and dining space must be a minimum of 145 square feet. Your laundry space must be a minimum of 11 square feet. Your bathroom must have enough space for a sink, toilet, and shower (or bath). This can be as small as 32 square feet.

Tiny Homes In Ontario

The building codes in Canada are more strict than many of the building codes that you see in the states, which means that some of the adorable tiny homes that you’ve scrolled through on social media wouldn’t be suitable here. Our high standards of building codes are for your safety. All tiny homes in Ontario must still adhere to the Ontario Building Codes.

You’re going to need to get a building permit from your municipality. They’ll review your plans for the house to ensure that they follow the proper building codes and municipal by-laws. It’s a good idea to check out those by-laws ahead of time so that you are confident that your housing plans will be approved (otherwise you’ll have a long delay when your plans are rejected and you have to make changes and submit again).

Specifications Your Tiny Home Must Comply With

Your sleeping loft cannot be lower than 6’10’’
You must have a staircase, rather than a ladder, to access the second level (this might be required to have a handrail, depending on the sizing of your stairs)
You must comply to fire safety standards
Your home must be insulated for winter
If you’d prefer to have a loft/mezzanine instead of a second story it cannot be greater than 40% of the floor area
Lofts/mezzanines must have a guard/handrail to prevent falls
There are minimum ceiling heights that your tiny home must comply with, most of which is a minimum of 6’10.5’’
Your hallways must comply with a minimum width
Entrance doors must be a minimum of 2’8’’ and swing
Bathrooms are required to have doors, which can be folding, sliding, or swinging type doors. They must be a minimum of 2’4’’
You’ll need to ensure that you have at least the minimum required number (and sized) windows
Your plumbing will need to have both cold and hot water supplies and you’re required to have a bathroom sink, kitchen sink, bathtub or shower, and a toilet (which can be a drainless composting toilet)
It must meet the minimum energy efficiency requirements, which includes having the proper amount of insulation in your exterior walls
You must have a light at the entrance of your home and a light and switch in every room/space
Emergency exits (which can be a window as long as it’s the correct type and size of window), smoke alarms, and carbon monoxide alarms are also required

Factory-Built Tiny Homes

If you decide to go the route of buying a pre-built tiny home, you’re going to need to ensure that it meets one of the two CSA certification standards (which will be labelled on the inside of the electrical panel door):

CSA-Z240.2.1-09 Structural Requirements for Manufactured Homes
CSA A277-08 Procedure for Factory Certification of Buildings

You’ll also want to make sure that the tiny home you buy was built for our climate and built to be lived in year-round.

Your factory-built home will still need to be placed on footings or foundation and a municipal building inspector will need to inspect it once it’s on your property. They’ll check for it to be properly anchored and that it’s properly hooked up to water and sewage.

Some Things To Consider

You’ll want to make sure that your HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) system is appropriate for such small square footage. Consider a ductless split system or baseboard heating system
You’re going to need a building permit, whether you’re building it onsite or buying a factory-built home
You can apply for a permit through your municipal building department and will show that your tiny home meets the requirements of the Ontario Building Code and the municipal zoning by-laws. Once submitted, they take about 10 business days to be approved (or denied).
You might need to ensure that you hire a licensed contractor to do the work of building your tiny home
You’ll need to comply with a building inspection if you’re building the home on-site, which will check framing, insulation, plumbing, and other aspects pertaining to Ontario Building Codes
If one of the things that you like about tiny homes is portability, you should consider the fact that in Ontario your home must be attached securely to the ground. Your tiny home can still have wheels and be portable, but you’ll need to make sure that it complies with the footings and foundation requirements of the code
If you’re transporting your tiny home, you might need to obtain a special transportation permit

Adding A Tiny Home To Your Property

Adding a tiny home to your property can be a smart investment. It can give you the option to live in it while you rent out your house. It can be a guest house for extended visits. It can be a great option for older children looking to live at home while saving up for a downpayment that gives everyone lots of privacy. It can also be a great option to rent out or to list in AirBnB. Here are some things to consider when adding a tiny home to your property.

Your Lot Must

Have adequate access for emergency services
Be large enough to meet setbacks (the space on the perimeter of your property where you’re not allowed to build upon) and other local requirements
Be set up for services such as water, sewage, and electricity
Slope away from your tiny home

Municipalities have different zoning laws, so you’ll want to inquire about whether your property has any zoning rules that apply to it. Some examples of these rules that might prevent you from being able to build a tiny home on your property are

Parking requirements
Minimum size for residential buildings
Permitted land usage
Minimum or maximum lot coverage by built structures
Restrictions on new residential developments in existing settlement areas
Locations of exits and entrances on your tiny home
Lot frontage and setback requirements from lot lines and the public street

Depending on the rules and how much your plan for a tiny home doesn’t conform with the rules (for example, if your tiny home overlaps the rear setback by inches), you might be able to apply for rezoning, which would then allow you to still build your tiny home. Before going through the hassle of rezoning, talk to your local municipal planning staff to see if they think the rezoning request would be supported.

Some Things To Consider

You can look into lot severance, which is when a property is legally divided into two properties. Contact your local municipality to see if your property would be a candidate for that if you wish to build a tiny home and have it on a separate lot and sell it
Don’t forget home insurance
You’ll need to investigate your options for connecting services. You’ll either need to connect your services (such as water and sewage) to your current dwelling or have separate services for each building. Check with your municipality
If you’re planning to rent out your tiny home, check with your by-laws to see about any regulations or rules surrounding renting

Next Steps

Interested in getting started? Great! First, contact your local municipality to see what rules and regulations you’ll need to follow. Next, start your planning. Continue to check along the way that you’re complying with the Ontario Building Codes (which you can check online) and your municipality’s by-laws.

Remember to hire qualified local professionals along the way! If you want to get rewarded while you hire local services, then find your local professionals on Locorum.