Mississauga Second Unit Bylaw Under Scrutiny

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Basement
Last January Mississauga's new licencing procedures for basement apartments and other forms of second units came into effect. Mississauga has banned second units for almost 20 years and the city had no choice but to change this procedure due to affordable housing legislation. 

The city is facing scrutiny over this because even though they changed their procedures in the last six months only one license was issued. Some believe that the city hasn't put in enough of an effort to promote the new bylaw and that they wish to hide it from citizens. 

 Under the new bylaw landlords have to go through a series of things in order to be granted a license. Landlords must pay an administration fee of up to $1000 on top of paying for any work that needs to be done, following mandatory safety inspections, to bring the property up to code.

 Mississauga has thousands of illegal second unit homes which is a problem for tenants of such places because they have no real protection in disputes with landlords. One of the main goals of this new bylaw was to grant licenses and reduce the number of illegal second unit homes, but this clearly is not happening. 

It is argued that the procedures for acquiring a license are too daunting and that because of this landlords aren't seeking licenses, but others argue that the procedures are still new and that it will take some time before landlords start jumping aboard the new paradigm. 

 Check out the link below for more information on this subject.
Licensing Bylaw



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