Toronto's Front Yard Parking Issues & License's 2011

Toronto Real Estate : Parking red tape should be streamlined


Bill Johnston - President of the Toronto real Estate Board

If you are a regular reader, you will remember I recently wrote about the City of Toronto’s decision to clarify its rules to ensure that residents could continue to park their cars on their driveways. As I mentioned then, adequate parking, or the lack of it, can be a deal maker or a deal breaker in a real estate transaction. So, I want to spend some more time on this issue. However, this time my focus is on the city’s rules for front-yard and/or boulevard parking.

For most Toronto residents, parking their vehicles is straightforward: they park them in their driveway, garage, or both. However, many residents don’t have either of those options and rely on parking spots added by altering the landscaping of their front yards and the boulevard portion of their property. Homeowners are required to obtain a permit from the city for such parking spots.

The city’s process to obtain a permit is not simple. It creates significant red tape for homeowners and requires the payment of various permit fees. Nevertheless, although that is an important consideration, my main focus with this issue is how the city handles front yard parking spots that have already been approved when a property is sold.

While city rules do allow the licence for an existing front-yard parking spot to be transferred to a new home owner, they also require that the new owner complete an application and pay a fee of $115.10 to have the licence transferred. According to city staff, it may also be necessary to have the parking spot inspected before the licence can be transferred.

Nobody appreciates surprises during the home-buying process, which is why I’m zeroing in on this aspect of this issue. Realtors believe that any government rules that add red tape to the home-buying process should be streamlined to help ensure smooth and efficient transactions. With regard to Toronto’s front yard licence transfer process, where a parking spot has been approved and conforms to the terms of the approval, the licence transfer should be quick, certain, and costs, if any, should be minimal.

Realtors make it a priority to work with all levels of government to reduce the red tape. In this regard, we plan to communicate our concerns about Toronto’s front-yard parking rules to the city, and I look forward to updating you on this.

For more information, go to www.Petertarshis Twitter @PeterTarshis, on Facebook Peter Tarshis Toronto Realtor .