Basement Apartments & Additional Residential Units in Richmond Hill, Ontario
Richmond Hill allows up to four units on many lots — but the Oak Ridges Moraine and Greenbelt ban them across large parts of town. Where they're allowed, the fees are among the GTA's lowest.
Richmond Hill permits up to four units on many residential lots — a home plus up to three additional units. But large parts of town are excluded by the Oak Ridges Moraine and Greenbelt, where no added unit is allowed. There is no municipal grant, though the permit fees are among the GTA’s lowest.
HouseLyft helps homeowners in Richmond Hill, Ontario work out what their lot legally permits, what a suite will cost to build, what it should earn, and which programmes actually apply — then connects them with a vetted builder.
In most GTA towns, the first question is “how big a suite can I build?” In Richmond Hill, the first question is “am I allowed one at all?”
Richmond Hill sits across the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Greenbelt, and its zoning by-law reflects that. By-law 143-24 lists fifteen zones where no additional residential unit may be located — including Moraine Natural Core and Natural Linkage, Environmental Protection Areas, floodplain and open space. On some Moraine Countryside and Hamlet lands, only one added unit is permitted. A homeowner in Oak Ridges or Lake Wilcox may have far less right to add a unit than one a few kilometres south on Yonge Street.
So the honest order of operations here is: confirm the lot, then design the suite. Get that backwards and you can spend money on drawings for a unit the land will never allow. Where a lot does qualify, though, Richmond Hill is unusually accommodating — as the rest of this page lays out.
What Richmond Hill permits — where it’s allowed
On an eligible lot, By-law 143-24 permits up to three additional residential units, for four units total, in most zones that allow detached, semi-detached, townhouse and similar homes. No more than two of those units may sit inside a detached accessory building. The lot must have frontage and its own municipal water and sewer connection.
A detached suite (the by-law calls it an Accessory Residential Building) is capped at 80 m² of building coverage, two storeys, 7.5 m overall height, in the rear yard only, at least 4.0 m from the house — with 50% of the rear yard kept as soft landscaping.
Up to 4Units permitted
$10.40/m²Permit fee
$1,827/mo2-bed average rent
What the City charges — and the free head start
Richmond Hill’s fee for a converted suite — a basement apartment or in-home secondary suite — is $10.40 per m² under By-law 19-24, one of the lowest ADU rates in the GTA, subject to a $210.12 minimum permit fee. Plumbing is billed separately ($28.40 per fixture; $158.40 flat), but sprinklers, fire alarms and mechanical systems installed as part of the same project carry no additional fee.
The genuinely unusual part: the City publishes a free pre-approved detached-suite model (roughly 6.64 m × 5.47 m) that complies with the Building Code and can be submitted with a site plan to shorten review. A separate Electrical Safety Authority permit is still required, and lots in a conservation-regulated area need TRCA approval.
Parking is geographic — sometimes zero
Richmond Hill sets parking by four map-based Areas. For a lot with one or two added units, the minimum total parking — including the house’s own spaces — ranges from 0 to 2 depending on the Area, and a lot with under 9.0 m of frontage never needs more than two. In the lower-parking Areas the trade-off is one weather-protected bicycle space per unit. Because the Area boundaries are a map, an address has to be checked before anyone promises zero parking.
On grants: none here — and that’s worth knowing
Some York Region municipalities run real homeowner incentives — Georgina up to $30,000, Whitchurch-Stouffville $10,000–$11,000 per unit. Richmond Hill does not. Its federal housing money funds developer projects and process improvements, not homeowner cheques. The one automatic saving is the provincial development-charge exemption, which makes DCs $0 on the added units regardless. If a competitor implies a Richmond Hill grant exists, that’s worth checking against the City’s own page.
What a Richmond Hill suite earns
As of CMHC’s October 2025 Rental Market Survey, average rents in Richmond Hill were $1,583 for a one-bedroom and $1,827 for a two-bedroom — both high-reliability figures.
The caveat that matters: these cover the primary rental market — purpose-built apartments — and exclude condominiums and basement apartments, which is exactly where a new suite sits and where asking rents run higher. Use them as a conservative reference, not as a projection for your unit. Richmond Hill is 57% detached houses with a small renter base, which is the demand argument in one figure.
What we do — and what we don’t
HouseLyft establishes whether a project stands up before anyone spends money on drawings: whether your lot is even eligible under the Moraine and Greenbelt rules, what the build realistically costs, what it should rent for, and which programmes genuinely apply. Where it works, we hand you to a vetted builder and stay involved. Where it doesn’t, we say so.
We are not a lender and we do not sell mortgages.
One correction worth carrying, because it is still advertised widely: the federal $80,000 Secondary Suite Loan was cancelled in Budget 2025 and never launched. Our financing guide sets out what is actually live.
Serving Richmond Hill and the surrounding region
We work across Richmond Hill and the wider GTA, including Vaughan, Markham, Toronto and Mississauga — where the unit counts, environmental constraints and fees differ materially from Richmond Hill’s. The full list is on our service areas page.
We also handle multiplex conversions and planning and permits across York Region.
Common questions about Richmond Hill suites
No. Fifteen zones — mostly Oak Ridges Moraine, Greenbelt, floodplain and environmental-protection lands — permit no additional unit at all, and some Moraine areas allow only one. Neighbourhoods like Oak Ridges and Lake Wilcox are the ones to check first.
On an eligible lot, up to three additional units for four total, with no more than two inside a detached building — provided the lot has its own water and sewer servicing.
Richmond Hill charges $10.40 per m² for a converted suite, under By-law 19-24 — genuinely one of the lowest ADU rates in the GTA. Plumbing and an ESA permit are additional.
No municipal grant exists in Richmond Hill, though some York neighbours have them. The only automatic benefit is the provincial development-charge exemption, which makes DCs $0.
The City publishes a Building-Code-compliant detached-suite design (about 6.64 m × 5.47 m) you can submit with a site plan to speed up permit review — a design and process aid, not a grant.
How this page was checked
Verified 20 July 2026, claim by claim — every figure above traced to the instrument it comes from.
Municipal rules and fees change, and the Comprehensive Zoning By-law is under appeal — confirm your property’s eligibility and current terms with the City of Richmond Hill before committing to a project.
Find out what your Richmond Hill lot allows
Enter your address and we’ll come back with whether your lot is eligible under the Moraine and Greenbelt rules, what your property permits, what a suite would realistically cost, and what it should earn.
- What your lot allows
- What it should earn
- Which programmes apply
Illustrative — your report is built from your own address.