tailieunhanh -   Basement Apartment Retrofit  “Untangling the web”   

Stuart has been in the property management industry for the past twenty-three years and brings his knowledge and experience from the private sector, and the Provincial and Federal Government to Esquire Management Group. Stuart has achieved the professional designations (Certified Property Manager) from the Institute of Real Estate Management and the . (Fellow of the Real Estate Institute, from the Real Estate Institute of Canada). Prior to joining Esquire Management Group, Stuart was General Manager of a property management company, which managed in excess of 5,000 apartments and condominium units in Edmonton | CarsonDunlop Consulting Engineers Basement Apartment Retrofit Untangling the web In a city like Toronto where the apartment vacancy rate is low and real estate values are high many people rely on the rental income from a basement apartment to give them the edge they need to own a home. But is it a legal apartment If not how can it be made legal In the process of legalizing the apartment will I be inviting trouble What if the city prescribes improvements that are prohibitively expensive What if the city decides that I can t have an apartment Catch 22 Homeowners with a basement apartment would like to find out what it would take to legalize the apartment but they want to find this out without tipping off the authorities. The only way to know for sure what will be required is to have inspections done by the appropriate authorities. This report sheds some light on this complicated subject. We will look at basement apartments including - Key concepts The history The evaluation process Four key issues The rules Inspections and their costs Where to get more information Definitions Is it legal Legal involves five separate issues including - Do the local bylaws permit you to have a basement apartment Does the apartment comply with the fire code Does the apartment comply with basic building code requirements Does the apartment comply with basic electrical safety requirements Has the apartment been registered We will look at these issues more closely. Building code vs. fire code The Building Code prescribes minimum requirements for the construction of buildings. For the most part the Building Code is a code that applies only the day the house was built. The code changes over the years but we don t have to keep changing our houses to comply with the code. The code does not apply retroactively . The Fire Code is a subset of the Building Code. It prescribes construction and safety issues as they relate to how the building is required to perform should it catch fire. A .