OBOA

New Occupancy Permit Requirements in the Building Code for Deferred Development Charges The  Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025  (Bill 17) amended the  Development Charges Act, 1997  to allow payment of the local/lower tier and regional/upper tier portion of development charges for non rental residential developments to be deferred from building permit issuance to either (a) issuance of an occupancy permit or (b) first occupancy of the building.  To operationalize this...

Interprovincial Labour Mobility for Building Officials The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has updated the Equivalency Assessment for Building Officials policy to expand the program eligibility to include applications from all provinces and territories in Canada. This change provides suitably qualified applicants with a pathway to practise in Ontario. It will make it easier to recruit, train and retain building officials and help address building official shortages all across...

Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) have posted proposal notices on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) to adapt the regulatory frameworks for septic systems servicing on-farm housing. This proposed initiative would help support the province’s agricultural sector and food-supply chain by allowing these systems to be established faster, while continuing to safeguard human health and maintaining...