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Calgary Secondary Suite Planning: Where Does the Electrical Panel Need To Be?

Introduction

Electrical panels and their placement have historically been one of the biggest nuisances for homeowners with legal suites. It used to be that the electrical panel needed to be accessible by both upstairs and downstairs tenants. With most panels being originally located in mechanical rooms not accessible by both suites it was either costly to move, or made turning suites legal nearly impossible. Thankfully regulations have recently changed allowing for more flexible panel placement. In this article we will review what the new electrical panel regulations are, and what our recommendations are for electrical panel placement on new and existing homes.

The New Regulations

The City of Calgary’s secondary suite site says that “A common electrical panel can serve both units, provided there are no shared branch circuits between the suites. It is recommended the electrical panel be located in a common area, or that sub-panels be installed in each suite.” I italicized one of they key words in that quote for emphasis. This is a big change, as just a few years ago it was required to have electrical panels accessible to both suites. For you to make a suite legal you would have to either connect and add a sub-panel to the other suite, move the entire electrical panel to a common space, or get lucky and somehow have a home with a mechanical room that connects to both suites. Now, although it is great if the electrical panel is accessible in both suites, it is no longer necessary. You do want to make sure that you add a line to your leases that states that if the upstairs needs access to the electrical panel that they will have to contact the renter of the basement or landlord and that access will need to be provided within a reasonable timeframe.

Personal Examples

Our first home in Nolan Hill was planned with a second suite in mind and was built when the old regulations were in place. We had to make sure that the stairs from the upstairs lead down to the mechanical room “common space” where the electrical panel was located. It took some serious planning to make happen, but turned out nice in the end. Related: Suite Showcase: Tour Our First Suite

On the bottom right of the floor plan is the common space. Those stairs lead to the separate upstairs suite. The mechanical room in the basement is accessed through the bathroom.

In our second home in Ranchlands the mechanical room (and therefore electrical panel) is not accessible by the upstairs tenant. We currently live in the basement, so if upstairs needed access they would text us and we can flip a switch for them immediately. Extra planning does have to come into play if we are out of town or on vacation however. So be careful about the added responsibilities of going down this route.

Where Should I Put My Panel?

The answer, like most, is that it depends on your space.

New Homes

If you are building a house new and are planning on adding a suite, then I would highly recommend that you look for a way to put the panel in a common space. It will cause the least amount of future headaches. If there is not common space, then a sub-panel is a great (but slightly more costly) alternative. Related: The Top 3 Requirements for Adding a Legal Basement Suite to Your Home

Existing Homes

When you are suiting a home that already has an electrical panel installed that is not easily accessible by the other suite I would recommend looking at what it costs to get it moved. If the drywall is already up, then that usually means it will be too pricy for most, but it is always worth checking out first. If the cost is too high, then know that you have the option to still legally suite the home without giving the upstairs immediate access to the panel. But make sure that you have a way to allow the other suite a way to switch a breaker within a reasonable time. I am not a lawyer, so make sure that you talk with one to keep your lease on the up-and-up.

Related: The Hidden Costs of Investment Properties

Conclusion

Whether in a new home, or existing one, ideally you would want to have a home with an electrical panel accessible to both suites. Fortunately, this is no longer required however, meaning that more homes than ever have the ability to turn their existing suites into legal ones, or add entirely new legal suites altogether. Make sure that you talk to the electrical inspector about panel placement if you have any further questions Thank you for reading our article. Make sure that you subscribe to our site to learn even more on how to legally suite your home.

Calgary Hits 1,000 Legal Secondary Suites

Secondary Suites are Growing

The City of Calgary announced on October 4th that there are now more than 1,000 legal secondary suites. This number is more than doubled the 458 legal suites (of which we were one of) in 2015. And since the changes announced in march has grown another 25%.

The city has created a video celebrating the milestone, as well as encouraging current illegal suite home owners to suite their houses. Hopefully the process is simpler now than it was for our first Suite Showcase homeowner Braydon.

The City of Calgary’s 1000 Suite video

But is it Enough?

In short, no. The city of Edmonton has over 3 times as many legal suites, and Calgary has 300,000 more people living in the city. Vancouver and Toronto do not have an available suite registry, but it is safe to assume their legal suites numbers are as woeful as Calgary’s.

Although 1,000 suites is a good start, Calgary is a long ways away from achieving it’s goals of finding affordable housing for all Calgarians who want it.

Fortunately, Calgary is continuing to promote secondary suites by waiving the development permit and secondary suite registry fees until June 1, 2020, saving Calgarians up to $700. If you are currently interested in legalizing a suite, the time could not be better for you.

The City of Calgary has a simple site to use to apply for suites, and learn the basics about suiting your home at calgary.ca/suites.

Of course, if you want to make your goal of suiting a home a reality, subscribe to Second Suite by putting your e-mail in the bar on the right to learn about the process, and see how other’s have done it as well.

Thanks for reading!

Suite Showcase: Silverado – A Cautionary Tale of Illegal Suites

Introduction

Braydon Randall is a young entrepreneur and investor who had been interested in investing in real estate at a young age. He was born and raised in Vancouver, and began to work in trades as a crane operator. He was working up in Fort MacMurray where he learnt from friends that Calgary was (and still is) a great city for investment properties. Braydon found that investing in Calgary homes was a lot less expensive than it was to purchase a house in his hometown of Vancouver.

In 2014, at the young age of 23 Braydon bought his first house in the SE of Calgary with the intention of adding a secondary suite to the home. The house is a 4 level split, which he found to be very simple to separate and suite. Working in the trades, Braydon had many friends with a wealth of experience which he was able to get their assistance on suiting his home.

Although Braydon worked hard to make sure his suite was well built, he took the advice from his father and decided to not go through the process of making the suite legal. This proved to be a costly mistake for Braydon as his next door neighbour invited Braydon over for a beer right as he was finishing his project and informed him that his wife and he did not feel comfortable having a renter for a neighbour.

They ended up reporting Braydon. He had to tell the renters that he had been in the house for less than a month that they would not longer be able to rent from him, and then had to go through the process of getting the city to inspect and approve all the work that was done (which is challenging and expensive once all the drywall is up). In the end, Braydon was able to get the suite up to Calgary and Alberta building codes, and now has easily one of the most beautiful legal secondary suites in the city.

Let this be a cautionary tale for all of you. When suiting your home, take the time to do it legally!

Q&A

Q: Was there anything in the process of suiting your home that was simpler than you thought it would be?

A: Nothing really comes to mind. For me the process was not an easy one as I had not originally gone down the legal route. I was really happy that I took a lot of pictures and documented the work that I was doing before hand, because I was able to use that to show the quality of the work to the city and the electrical and plumbing inspectors.

Q: What happened when you were reported for having an illegal suite?

A: A month after I met with my neighbour I got a letter in the mail saying that there is a complaint and that they are coming to do an inspection on an illegal suite. At that time I had some tenants who had been in there for about a month. They were older, in their late 60s. So I had to kick them out. I had to remove the stove, I had to remove the dryer, and that is when the process started of having to get the building permits and developer permits.

Honestly, it feels like I pretty much got black listed from the city. The contractor that I ended up getting to help me after the fact, he has been doing secondary suites for like 20 years. He said that he had never seen the city make someone jump through so many hoops. It really felt like the city was doing this just to screw with us.

Q: Do you think the city made it so challenging for you because you had originally gone down the path of doing an illegal suite?

A: 100 percent. I believe that it was because I did it illegally, and then tried to get it done legally after the fact. I have gone to investment seminars and have talked to many people, and no one has had to deal the problems that I have.

As an aside: If what Braydon is saying about the city is true, this feels like a terrible way to treat someone who is trying to turn their suite legal. The Calgary is need of more affordable housing, and they want basement suites to become legal. Making the process difficult because someone originally went down the wrong path does not feel like the appropriate way to handle the problem.

Q: If you were to do it again would you start the process of going legal in the beginning?

A: Yes. I should not have done the illegal route. Deep down I wanted to do it legally, and I had a couple people, including my own father who influenced me in making the wrong decision. Making the suite illegal and then getting caught probably ended up costing me at least an extra fifteen thousand dollars that I did not need to spend.

Q: How much did it cost you to suite your basement?

A: In the end it costed me about eighty thousand dollars. Fifteen thousand of which I probably did not need to actually spend.

Q: How much money did you put towards the down payment of your home?

A: I was living in the house, and I decided to put five percent down when I bought the home. I wanted to put the least amount of money down on the home so that I could use that money instead to renovate and put renters in so that they can pay the mortgage instead.

Q: Is your rental property profitable?

A: Yes. I get the mortgage entirely paid off, I live in Vancouver now, so ten percent goes to the property manager, and I am ending up a few hundred dollars in the green every month even after that.

Q: Are you looking to buy and suite another home in the future?

A: Yeah, I would definitely do it again. I am actually looking to buy the house two doors down when it becomes available. It is also a 4 level split. It is the only other one in the whole neighbourhood.

Conclusion

Braydon, was able to persevere through the challenges of turning his illegal suite into a legal one, and ended up all the better for it. He was able to build easily one of the most beautiful legal suites in the city, and is cash flow positive from it.

The 5 Things Your Home Needs to Have Before You Suite It

You have thought about if a secondary suite is right for you and decided that you want to take the plunge, Congratulations! There are lots of great houses on the market, but not all of them will be great for adding a legal suite. You can of course look to buy a home that already has a suite in it, but most of these are not legal, and if you get reported by neighbours or tenants the city can shut you down. And those that are already legal can have a high price tag.

There are many homes that have the potential to become great income properties, and all it takes is a bit of research and a good eye to see a diamond in the rough. As you look for your perfect investment property or “house hack”, keep the following criteria in mind to make sure you set yourself up for success.

1. Your House is Properly Zoned for a Suite

In each city zoning regulations are a little bit different. Cities like Edmonton have it the simplest, where any residential property can contain a secondary suite. Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto however need to be zoned in a specific sub-zone (ex; R1, RT-1) that allows for multi-family dwellings. The best thing you can do is search your cities website, or call their number to get the zoning criteria.

Knowing the proper zoning criteria can help you filter your searches for houses that fit within your cities guidelines. Many realtors have programs that will only show you houses with the proper zoning. You can also check websites like mls.ca to look for homes on your own in areas that you know have the right zoning.

If you are currently living in a home that you would like to suite but it is not zoned properly then all is still not lost. You can always apply for an exception through your city council. A lot of times this also involves connecting with your neighbours to get their approval of having a suite.

Some neighbours might not like the idea of having multifamily homes in their neighbourhoods. The Calgary Journal did some research on secondary suites that were appealed, and found that the top two reasons for neighbours appealing had to do with privacy concerns, and benchmark number 2…

2. Have Plenty of Parking

When you are looking to buy a home with a suite, parking is something that you need to take very seriously. We recommend making sure that there is at least parking available for 4 vehicles around or within your property lines. An example of this could be a lane home that has a parking pad on the back of the house that can house 2 cars, and street parking at the front of the house. Or a corner lot with a front facing garage and parking on the side of the house.

Parking is a really big deal, and if you want to keep your tenants and neighbours happy then make sure that the home that you buy has plenty of parking spaces. If the house you are looking at does not seem to have many parking spots then it is not a home worth purchasing, even if it has the proper zoning.

3. Needs a Separate Entrance

When looking for a home to add a suite into, having separate entrances are one of the simplest ways to decide if a house is worth viewing or not. Houses with walkout basement entrances are ideal, or homes that have a door that leads directly to stairs that take you to the basement work too.

That is not to say that having a single entrance never works however. If the entrance to a home can be separated into a common space with an inside door leading to the upstairs and another door leading to the suite downstairs then this could also work for you. However, if the only way to get to the basement is through stairs in the middle of the house then adding a basement suite is usually not worth doing.

You always can core out a door on the side of a house, but the costs of doing so are pretty high, and I would not recommend doing this on your first investment home.

4. Has Big Enough Windows in Basement Bedrooms

This is not just about providing natural light into a home. Safety is the name of the game when looking at windows. The main reason why there are so many regulations to follow is because Cities want to make sure that the places that people live in are safe. If a fire were to break out in the basement and a tenant was trapped in their room how would they get out? The windows of a bedroom have to be large enough for an adult to escape from.

Those regulations vary by small amounts from city to city, but a general rule of thumb is about 4 square feet or larger. If you look at a window and think “I can’t get out of that” then it is probably too small. Making windows larger is also an option, and it costs less than a door, but you may have to add window wells if you need to dig deeper.

5. The Mechanical Room is Accessible

This is actually less of an issue now in some major cities like Calgary, but in quite a few cities through out Canada your mechanical room (or at least the electrical panel) needs to be accessible for both upstairs and downstairs tenants. That means that if your mechanical room is located in an area in your basement that can not be easily turned into a common space then you will have to get it moved to a space that can be. This can be an absolute deal breaker for many homes.

Fortunately these rules seem to be changing. In Calgary, for example, so long as the basement suite tenant, and landlord, can access the mechanical room, all that you need to do is add a clause in your contract saying that you will access the mechanical room within 24 hours if requested by the upstairs tenant. This means that if a power breaker flips, your upstairs tenant needs to contact you or the basement tenant, and it has to be fixed by the next day. Inconvenient for the upstairs tenant, yes. But this change alone has meant that so many more homes have the potential to now be suited. This is amazing news for real estate investors, and a small price to pay in the long run if it means more legal suites in a growing city.

If you are unsure what the rules are for your city, the best thing to do is give the building and development department a call. They normally do not have this information readily available online.

To Sum it Up

Zoning, parking, entrances, windows, and mechanical rooms. This could sound like a big and scary list to remember as you are looking to find the right home to suite. It takes some pre-work to find the perfect home, but if you take the time to make sure your house can meet these requirements then you will have a more enjoyable suiting process.

Stick with Second-Suite to learn even more about suiting your homes, and as always feel free to share your stories in the comments bellow.