The More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 permits up to three residential units as-of-right on most serviced residential lots in Ontario — no rezoning, no council decision — and exempts the second and third units from development charges and parkland dedication. The zoning change gets the headlines; the fee waiver is usually worth more to a homeowner.
- Three units as-of-right: three in the primary building, or two plus one in an ancillary structure
- Applies to urban residential land served by municipal water and sewer
- The 2nd and 3rd units are exempt from development charges — often worth more than any grant
- A fourth unit doesn’t get the exemption automatically
- It changed permission and fees. It did not change parking, servicing capacity or heritage
Checked 23 July 2026.
Two changes in one Act rewrote the arithmetic for Ontario homeowners. One of them got all the coverage; the other is the one that actually moves budgets.
What Bill 23 changed
The More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23) received Royal Assent on 28 November 2022.
The zoning change. It amended the Planning Act to require official plans and zoning bylaws to permit, as-of-right, small-scale residential uses of up to three units per lot in areas where municipal services are available. The three units can be:
- Three units within the primary building, or
- Two units within the primary building plus one in an ancillary building or structure — a garden suite, laneway suite or converted garage
As-of-right means no rezoning, no Committee of Adjustment, no council decision. It does not mean no building permit — that still applies, along with the Ontario Building Code and inspections.
The scope condition matters: it applies to urban residential land served by municipal water and sewer. Rural or unserviced properties are a different question.
Two other Bill 23 changes worth knowing: it removed site plan control for most projects under ten residential units, and reduced parking minimums near major transit.
The development charge exemption
This is the part that changes budgets, and it’s routinely missing from coverage of Bill 23.
What it does. Bill 23 amended the Development Charges Act to exempt the creation of new residential units in existing houses and in certain ancillary structures. Specifically, the second and third units are exempt from development charges and parkland dedication.
Why it’s worth more than a grant. Ontario levies development charges per residential unit, and across the GTA they are among the highest in Canada. Before this exemption, adding a suite could trigger a charge large enough to end a project on its own.
Look up your municipality’s residential DC rate — Toronto publishes its schedule on the City’s development charges page — and you’ll see the scale of what you’re avoiding. It typically dwarfs the building permit fee by an order of magnitude, and it frequently exceeds what provincial grant programmes elsewhere in Canada ever paid out.
The framing worth internalising: Ontario’s support for secondary suites is a fee you don’t pay, not a cheque you receive. It doesn’t feel like assistance, which is precisely why it’s undervalued.
Two important limits:
The fourth unit doesn’t get it automatically. The exemption attaches to the second and third units. If you’re weighing a triplex against a fourplex, this is one of the two opposing tax effects to model — the fourth unit may pick up a development charge while also unlocking the federal GST rental rebate, which requires four or more units.
It’s an exemption, not a refund. You avoid the charge; nobody sends you money.
Some municipalities go further. Toronto’s Development Charges Deferral Program for Ancillary Secondary Dwelling Units, approved by Council in April 2018, defers charges on an eligible rear-yard suite — collecting them only if a new lot is created within 20 years of the building permit. Toronto has also frozen DC rates at 2024 levels for 2025–26, with reductions of 40–60% planned between 2026 and 2029.
Our development charge guide covers the mechanics.
What still applies
Bill 23 changed permission and fees. It changed nothing else.
A building permit, always. Plus an ESA electrical permit and a plumbing permit where relevant.
The Ontario Building Code. Ceiling height (1.95 m in basements, 1.85 m below beams and bulkheads), egress (0.35 m² openable, no dimension under 380 mm, sill no more than 1.5 m), fire separation (45 minutes for new construction; 30 or 45 minutes for houses more than five years old depending on circumstances), interconnected alarms and sound separation.
Inspections, at stages through construction.
Municipal registration, where your municipality requires it — several across the GTA do, in addition to permits.
Every objective zoning standard — setbacks, height, coverage, and whatever parking or amenity requirements your municipality still applies.
What it did not do
The honest limits, and each of these stops real projects.
Parking. Bill 23 reduced minimums near major transit, but municipalities still apply parking requirements in many situations. Where your lot can’t accommodate a required stall, that’s a zoning problem no contractor can solve.
Servicing capacity. The single biggest omission. Your water, sanitary sewer and electrical connections were sized for one dwelling. Three units may require an upgrade, and where that means work in the street it’s expensive and slow. No amount of zoning reform creates pipe capacity. This is the constraint homeowners consider last and the one that most often ends a project quietly.
Heritage designation. A designated property still needs heritage approval before permits, and that review can constrain exterior changes.
Tree protection. Protected trees remain protected. In mature neighbourhoods an arborist report is routine, and a tree can move, shrink or rule out a building.
Conservation authority regulated lands. As of 1 April 2024, constructing an additional residential unit within lands regulated by a conservation authority requires that authority’s approval. Brampton states plainly that a permit will not proceed without it. This catches ordinary-looking suburban lots near watercourses and valleys.
Lot geometry. Setbacks, coverage and angular planes apply as before, and a narrow lot may not physically accommodate three units however permissive the zoning.
How municipalities implemented it differently
The province set a floor. Each municipality built its own system on top — and they differ enough to matter.
Toronto created two separate rear-yard categories: a laneway suite (lot must abut a public lane) and a garden suite (no lane). Different size, setback and access rules. Garden suites are capped at 60 m² total floor area with a 45-degree angular plane from 4.0 m; laneway suites at 8 m × 10 m with no parking required. Toronto also publishes free “Made in Toronto” pre-approved plans.
Brampton caps you at three units including the principal dwelling — either the house plus an attached second unit plus a garden suite, or the house plus two attached units. Not both. Garden suites start at the Planning Division before Building, and all units must be registered, with a public map of registered units.
Mississauga publishes free pre-approved garden suite plans — a 40 m² studio and a 55 m² one-bedroom — plus a materials list. Dimensional rules vary by zone.
The practical instruction: read your own municipality’s bylaw. The provincial headline is a floor, and the local implementation is what a building official applies. Our Toronto building guide covers the City in detail.
What it means for your lot
Four questions, in order:
- Is your lot urban residential and served by municipal water and sewer? If not, Bill 23’s three-unit rule may not reach you.
- What does your municipality’s bylaw actually permit, and under what dimensional standards?
- Can your lot physically carry it after setbacks, parking and any amenity requirement?
- Will your servicing carry it? The question to answer first, not last.
If all four are yes, you’re in a materially better position than an equivalent homeowner was in 2021 — permitted as-of-right, with the largest fee waived.
If question four is no, the zoning doesn’t help, and finding that out early is worth a great deal. Our zoning and bylaws guide covers what to check.
Find out what Bill 23 means for your address
The provincial rule is a floor. What your specific lot permits — and whether the servicing will carry it — is the question that decides your project.
HouseLyft’s free property assessment answers both. Request your free report.
Checked 23 July 2026. This guide explains provincial legislation and municipal implementation in general terms and is not legal advice. Municipalities implement Bill 23 differently and rules are amended periodically — confirm the current position for your property with your municipality.
Checked by Lee Yousaf, Founder