Calgary Secondary Suite Approval Simplification

In March of 2018 the Calgary City Council green lit changes to how Secondary Suites are approved. Before this change, if you wanted to add a secondary suite to your property in a non-designated zone, you would need to apply, and attend a hearing with the city council. Nearly one fifth of all city council hearings were related to secondary suite approvals. Talk about time consuming for you and the city!

In fact, the City of Calgary is currently promoting the building of new legal suites. They are waiving the development permit and suite registry fees for the next 2 years! And there is even more good news! City council cast a vote allowing secondary suites to be built in properties and communities where multi-family dwellings were not previously allowed! Awesome!

What Does This Mean For You?

If your property is zoned under “discretionary approval” for building a legal secondary suite, then your life just got a lot easier. More zones are now allowing secondary suites, and even communities that said they would never allow suites are opening up. This does not mean that you are entirely home free. Once you apply for a development permit, the city will put a notice on the front of your home for public comment. This means that your neighbours will have a say on what you want to do with your property. You better make sure that you have ample available parking, as that is the #1 neighbour concern.

Even if your property is already zoned in a fully approved area of the city, you still benefit from the free development permit and suite registry! There is no better time to build a legal secondary suite in Calgary, than right now!

Please leave your comments or thoughts on these changes to secondary suite bylaws below.

The Top 3 Requirements for Adding a Legal Basement Suite to Your Home (Calgary Edition)

We have already talked about why owning a Secondary Suite is a great decision for many current and first-time homeowners. Regulations have recently changed, making developing Legal Suites easier than ever. There are many building codes that you will need to follow, but let’s start by looking at what we believe are the Top 3 Fundamental Requirements that you will want to make sure you can achieve before you get too far in the process.

1. How is Your Property Zoned?

Subdivisions within Calgary have different zoning bylaws that may or may not allow you to add a Secondary Suite to your property. Below is a quick list of what properties are permitted, and which ones have discretionary (meaning there is an approval process) approval.

R-C1 Ls – Approved
R-C1s – Approved
R-C2 – Approved
R-1s – Approved
R-2 – Approved
R-2M – Approved
R-CG – Approved
M-CG – Approved
R-G – Approved
RC-1 L – Discretionary
R-C1 – Discretionary
R-C1 N – Discretionary
R-1 – Discretionary
R-1 N – Discretionary

As you can see from above, a lot of the zoning bylaws permit you to add a legal Secondary Suite to your property, and those that do not have an approval process that you can apply for. To find out what zone your house is on, and for more details on zoning enter your address at the City of Calgary site.

2. Is There Space for a Separate Entrance to the Basement?

Whether it is a basement walkout entrance, or one starts in a shared common space that leads down the stairs to the suite, your house needs to have a separate entrance that will allow the basement resident to get into their suite without having to walk through the upstairs suite.

This is probably one of the most challenging requirements to find in a house that you are looking to suite. My wife and I looked for quite a long time to find a house to meet this requirement when we were looking for our second home (and it was totally worth the wait!). If you can check this box off, then congratulations you are most likely sitting on a great investment property.

3. Where is the Mechanical Room Located?

When you look at your house, or a house you are potentially going to purchase look at where the mechanical room is currently located. If it is sitting right in the middle of the basement then you might run into some problems. Of course, anything can be moved, but it might add some unwanted ductwork that could cause a lower than desired ceiling height.

You will also want to make sure that you will have enough space in the mechanical room for a secondary heat source (I have found a second furnace works great, and is cost efficient, but there are many options to look at), a large water tank, an electrical panel, and potentially even a clothes washer and dryer. Although it is no longer required (and thank goodness!), you would ideally want both the upstairs and downstairs tenants to have access to the mechanical room. If it doesn’t work out that way then that is fine, it just means there are some other factors you will need to consider (which we will touch on in a future post).

In Conclusion

We will continue to explore more of the regulations that the City of Calgary have put in place to make a safe and legal suite. Many of them will be easy to implement in almost any property, but the three that we have listed above are the ones that you will want to give the most consideration to as you look at finding the perfect house to suite. Good luck!

Please leave a comment below on any of the topics that we covered today!

Is a Secondary Suite Right for You?

Owning a home with a Secondary Suite is a great investment, but is it the right thing for you? We hope the answer is yes! Below we will look at some things to consider before you take the plunge.

Before we get started, you will want to make sure the house you own (or will be purchasing) can be turned into a legal Secondary Suite. Take a look at our handy guide coming soon to learn more about this.

Alright, on with the list.

Are you ready for some upfront work?

Creating a Legal Secondary Suite can take time, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. On average it takes about 3-6 months (and if you stick with us we can help you keep it only at 3) to pull permits, build the suite and get inspections complete. You have two options: you can hire a General Contractor (GC) to do all this for you, or you can contract the project yourself. Be aware that working with a GC will greatly increase the cost (I’m talking 30k-70k more), and you might find that your extend past three months since a contractor usually has more than one project on the go. If you decide to take on contracting the project yourself you will save money and time.

A lot of people are nervous about being the General Contractor of their project. Take this from someone who had no experience with being a GC and suited two houses, it isn’t actually that hard. You can learn more about being your own GC in an upcoming article soon.

Once that bit of work is done then you will have an amazing long term investment that will have been worth every second of your time.

How do you feel about maintenance and upkeep?

Right now, my bathtub has a tiny, but constant little drip. I know that all I need to do is replace the cartridge, which is a 6 minute fix (if you have this problem yourself here is a great YouTube Video to help), but I just haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. It’s my house, in the suite I am living in, so it’s my prerogative to fix it when I want to (which is usually when Dayna finally puts her foot down). But when a tenant runs into a similar issue, I need to be there within a few days with a solution. Pro tip: quick response time is going to keep your tenants happy and your house in good condition.

The internet is an amazing thing, and even the least handy of us can fix common appliance related issues with some simple googling. If a problem ventures way beyond your abilities, then definitely call in a professional to get the job done! We do this a lot of the time.

Realize that leaks and breaks come with the territory of being a homeowner. Hopefully, issues with your suite will be few, however, it’s important to remember that they are inevitable. Even though you have built your suite and your tenants have moved in, your job isn’t done. There will always be something to fix or replace or upgrade and it’s your responsibility as a landlord to maintain your property.

Are you OK sharing a closer space with someone?

When considering living in a suited home you have to decide if sharing part of your house with another person or family is best for you.

Although you will not be sharing any rooms, there will be people living above or below you and probably some shared common spaces (utility room, garage space, the backyard). For those of you who are used to condo or apartment living then this should not be much of an adjustment for you. If, however, you are used to living in a house by yourself, you’ll want to consider how close neighbours may effect your lifestyle or personal preferences. Make sure that you are ok with no longer holding 1AM band practice in your living room.

Ultimately, you can be as close or distant from your neighbour as you would like to be. We have rented to people that we hardly saw for months even though they lived right above us, while other tenants invited us up regularly and we became good friends. It’s really up to you and your renter[s].

In conclusion

The real question that you need to ask yourself is “am I ok with some minor inconveniences every once in a while for an amazing long term investment?”. I believe that for many, owning an home with a suite is an extremely worthwhile investment, and fun new part of your life.

Leave a comment if you have any questions or thoughts about being a landlord or a tenant, we’d love to hear from you!

Top 3 Reasons to Create a Legal Secondary Suite

In 2014 my wife Dayna and I made a big decision and turned our first home into a legal secondary suite in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Why did we do it? And why should you do it as well?

Below we will take a look at the Top 3 Reasons why you should look into suiting your house.

1. It’s a Great Way to Enter the Housing Market

The cost of purchasing a house in larger cities in Canada continues to rise each year. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association the average cost of a home has increase from 230k in 2007 to nearly 500k in 2018! For those wanting to get into the housing market, building a secondary suite can help supplement (or even entirely pay for) the mortgage. Now owning a home and paying a mortgage is far less daunting.

Before Dayna and I purchased our first home we were living in a legal basement suite that we rented for about $950 a month. Once we bought our house, our mortgage payment was around $2,400 a month (with a 5% down first time home owners loan). Yikes, that is a pretty big (and for many impossible) jump! With a secondary suite, we were able to rent the upstairs of our house (we chose to live in the smaller basement suite) for $1,850 a month. Now our portion of the mortgage was only $550 each month. The best part? The rent we received each month went towards building the equity of our home.

2. You Are Looking for a Reliable Long Term Investment

One thing that Second Suite will not talk much about is house flipping. If that is what you are interested in doing then we might recommend following a different blog.

Owning a secondary suite is a safe and reliable way to generate a (fairly) hassle free second income. Having someone else help pay your mortgage helps you gain equity in your home. Then, once the house is completely paid off, the rent keeps coming in! For each suite you own, you will be bringing in $9,600-$20,400 of revenue a year. All you need to do is check in every few months, take care of the general maintenance and upkeep of owning a home, and deposit the cheques.

If you decide that you want to sell the house in the future, you will receive the windfall of a fully paid off house that your renters paid for you! Thanks guys!

3. You are Filling a Community Need

Although the main reason most people decide to build secondary suites is because of the fantastic investment opportunities it provides, there is a more altruistic way of looking at it as well.

The largest cities in Canada have a desperate need for affordable living situations (I’m looking at you Vancouver and Toronto). By creating a secondary suite, you are providing a new home for a person, couple, or family who needs it. You can help bring more vibrancy to your community, and help your city grow!

Dayna and I have really enjoyed getting to know all of our renters, and we feel like our lives are more enriched by being a supporter of theirs. We have rented to immigrants from India, Lebanon and England. We have also rented to a hilarious young couple who game all day, and a family in the process of adopting and caring for two children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. One of my most recent renters shared his tremendous weight loss journey with me, and gave me some exercises that I could do at home to get in shape too (I have a long ways to go). This is honestly my favourite part of the whole thing. It is so rewarding to be a part of other peoples lives.

In Conclusion

I would highly recommend that you look into investing in a secondary suite. It’s great for new home owners, it’s great for investors, and it makes a difference in your community.

Please share your secondary suite stories with us, we would love to showcase them on the site! And continue to follow us to learn all about what it takes to create and rent your own suite!