Sooner or later, most cottage-country properties turn up a structure nobody pulled a permit for. Maybe it's a bunkie a previous owner built "off the books" in the 1990s, a deck that was added onto a shed without anyone checking the rules, or a boathouse that's been there so long nobody remembers if paperwork ever existed. It's a common situation, and it's rarely a crisis — but it does need to be handled properly, especially once you're buying, selling, or adding to the property.
Here's how it usually comes up, what a municipality can actually do about it, and the realistic options for dealing with it.
How an unpermitted structure usually surfaces
A few situations tend to bring old, unpermitted work to light:
- Buying or selling. A real estate lawyer's title search, a survey, or a buyer's home inspection can flag a structure that doesn't match any permit on file with the municipality. Lenders and insurers sometimes ask about this too.
- Applying for a new permit. When you apply to build a new cottage, addition, or accessory building, the building department may notice an existing structure on the same lot that was never permitted — an old shed, bunkie, deck, or boathouse that shows up on a site plan or during a site visit.
- A complaint or a routine inspection. A neighbour's complaint, a bylaw officer in the area for another reason, or work visible from the water or road can also bring it to a municipality's attention.
None of these automatically means trouble. What matters is what happens next.
What the municipality can actually do
Under the Building Code Act, municipalities enforce permit requirements through a set of formal tools, most commonly an Order to Comply — essentially a written notice giving the owner a deadline to either obtain a permit for the existing work (with as-built drawings showing what was actually built) or bring the property into compliance some other way, which can include removing or altering the structure. Other order types exist for unsafe conditions or ongoing work, but for something built years ago with no permit, an Order to Comply (or an informal request from the building department to "regularize" the structure before it will process anything else on the lot) is the typical starting point.
Ignoring an order is an offence under the Act and can lead to fines, and in the most serious cases municipalities have gone to court to force removal of non-compliant construction. Those outcomes are the exception, not the rule, and they generally follow years of an owner ignoring repeated notices — not a first conversation about an old shed. Still, the right approach is to deal with the order, not sit on it.
The retroactive, or "as-built," permit process
Where a structure can be made to comply, most municipalities offer a path to legalize it after the fact, sometimes called a retroactive permit. The general shape of this process, though the specifics vary by municipality, is:
- As-built drawings. Instead of drawings for work you're about to do, you (or a designer) produce drawings showing the structure as it was actually built — dimensions, footings, framing, and anything else the building department needs to assess it against the Building Code.
- Possible engineering. If the structural adequacy of the as-built work can't be confirmed by inspection alone — a deck with hidden footings, a larger accessory building, a structure on rock with an unconventional foundation — the municipality may require a professional engineer to review and seal the drawings or confirm the structure's integrity before a permit will be issued.
- Inspection and, often, higher fees. Expect at least one inspection of the existing structure, and in many municipalities a retroactive-permit fee set higher than the normal permit fee, as a matter of policy. Fees and whether a surcharge applies vary by municipality — confirm with your local building department before you plan a budget around it.
- A zoning check, separately from the building permit. The building permit confirms the structure meets the Building Code. Whether it's allowed to sit where it sits — setbacks from the shoreline or the lot line, lot coverage, height — is a zoning question, and it's possible for a structure to be fine on code grounds but still need a minor variance (or relocation) to satisfy zoning. These are two separate approvals, and passing one doesn't guarantee the other.
If you've read our piece on shoreline setbacks in cottage country, this is where that article and this one meet: an old boathouse or bunkie built close to the water decades ago, under different rules, is exactly the kind of structure that may need a variance as well as a retroactive permit.
One thing that never changes: each building needs its own permit
A detail that trips people up: if you're applying for a permit for a new cottage or an addition, and the building department also wants an old unpermitted shed, bunkie, or boathouse on the same lot dealt with, that does not get folded into your new permit. Every building on a property — the house or cottage, and each accessory building — is its own structure requiring its own, separate permit application, regardless of timing or whether another permit on the lot is still under review. You can absolutely prepare or submit more than one application around the same time, and it's often efficient to do exactly that, but they stay as separate files with separate reviews, fees, and permits. See our article on bunkie permit rules in Ontario for how that applies to one of the most common accessory buildings on cottage lots.
Your real options
Once a structure is flagged, you generally have three paths, and which one makes sense depends on the structure, the zoning, and what it would take to bring it up to code:
- Permit it as-is. If the structure is structurally sound, meets the Building Code, and sits where zoning allows, a retroactive permit with as-built drawings may be all that's needed.
- Modify it to comply. If it's close but not quite there — undersized footings, a missing guard, a setback a foot or two short — the fix might be a straightforward upgrade, or a minor variance application to the committee of adjustment if the issue is zoning rather than structure.
- Remove it. If the structure is in poor condition, in a location that will never be approved (too close to the water, for instance), or the cost of bringing it into compliance doesn't make sense, removal is often the cleanest outcome.
None of these options is inherently bad news. The structures that cause real problems are the ones left unaddressed for years after an order is issued — not the ones an owner deals with promptly, even if the eventual answer is "take it down."
A practical note on sheds
Not every accessory structure needs a permit in the first place. Under the Building Code, a shed is exempt from both the permit requirement and Code compliance only if it meets all of the following: no more than 15 m2 in area, one storey, not attached to a building or to any other structure, used only for storage ancillary to the main building on the lot, and no plumbing. If an old "shed" on your property has a deck built onto it, is wired for power and used as a bunkie, or is larger than that threshold, it's outside the exemption and needs to be treated like any other unpermitted structure. A similar, separate 10 m2 threshold comes from the Act's general definition of "building" and applies to small accessory structures generally, bunkies included — see our bunkie permit rules article for how that plays out for bunkies specifically.
If you're buying or selling
If you're selling a property with a structure you know (or suspect) was never permitted, it's almost always better to deal with it before it shows up in a buyer's due diligence. A retroactive permit obtained calmly, on your own timeline, is a very different experience than one triggered by a lawyer's letter during a tight closing. If you're buying, a structure without a permit on file isn't automatically a deal-breaker, but it's worth factoring the cost and time of legalizing it — or removing it — into your decision.
Municipal processes, fees, and exactly how aggressively an order is enforced vary from one building department to the next, so always confirm the specifics with your local building department before assuming how a particular structure will be treated.
Where BRHDG fits in
Sorting out an unpermitted structure usually starts with an honest assessment: what's actually there, whether it can realistically meet the Building Code and zoning, and what drawings or engineering the municipality will want to see. As a BCIN designer, we prepare as-built and retroactive permit drawings as part of our regular building-permit services across Parry Sound District, Muskoka, Haliburton, and Simcoe North — from French River to Orillia.
If you've got an old shed, bunkie, deck, or boathouse on your cottage property that was never permitted, or you're planning a new build or addition and want to get ahead of what's already on the lot, get in touch. We can help you figure out which of the three paths makes sense and prepare the permit set to get there.
