Have you ever thought about adding an extra Apartment or In-Law Suite to Your House ?

The City of Ottawa is welcoming Intensification and now allows for Secondary Dwelling Units to be added to pretty much anyone's home who wants One....if you can meet some conditions you can have an Inlaw Suite in your existing home.

So long as your new apartment meets building and fire codes, you can now earn some extra money from your current primary residence.

If you want some extra income, why not add a basement apartment with 2 bedrooms and start collecting over $1000 per month ?

How much does it cost to construct an SDU and Coach House?

Here are the typical building costs for a secondary dwelling unit or coach house.

  • $125,000 for a basement, 2 bed, 1 bath.
  • $150,000 for a basement 3 bed, 2 bath.
  • Coachhouses cost from $225,000 to $250,000.

What does the City think about adding an In-Law Suite to your home?

Right now, pretty much anyone can add what's called a Secondary Dwelling Unit to their current property. This means you can add an Apartment to your current single family home or townhome to turn it into a Duplex, or you can add a third apartment to your Duplex to make it a Triplex.

The only area that is exempt from these new exemptions is Rockcliffe....no idea why ?

If you wanted to add an extra apartment to the 2nd level or 3rd level of your house, you are allowed to use 60% of the current space. But, if you wanted to add the extra space in the basement, you can use the full 100% of the space.

The City is also ignoring the current rules for building a Duplex or Triplex, forget about them, like a certain frontage, depth of lot or parking spaces.

Again, the City wants intensification, so they are saying...forget about that...all you have to do is to make sure your new apartment meets the fire and building codes.

So, you need to make sure that you build the new space with drywall that has the correct burn time between each unit.

Bottom line, it is now easier to create an Income Producing Property within your own home to help with your mortgage, make you some income, or even have your parents live in this space within your home.

Recent update about adding a Coach-House on your property.

There is another recent new change, allowing you to build a totally separate structure on your property, which is classed as a Coach-House, and you can do this as long as your lot size is big enough to meet the setbacks.

Again, the City of Ottawa is open to Intensification. Take advantage while this offer lasts and have your Inlaw-Suite separate from your own house.

This blog post and video are related to an older post about this Topic, concerning Illegal Apartments.

For more information about this you can visit the City of Ottawa's website and check out Secondary Dwellings and Coach-Houses.

And here is more information about Secondary Dwelling Units from the City of Ottawa