Was first approved back in November 2022 and in-effect throughout the province, starting January 1, 2023.
However, even though it's been approved and in-effect there are some municipalities that have yet to implement Bill 23 into their bylaws.
Below are the key points that I have gathered/summarizes from Bill 23.
1. We can start doing Triplex Conversions! Many investors I know already have a duplex but now they can convert it into a legal triplex. More doors, more money! An example would be to split a 2 bedroom unit into 2 bachelor unit (or 2- 1bedroom if it's over 1000 sq ft) Most of our Bachelor units fall between 300-500sqft and 1 bedrooms are 500-700sqft. You're probably thinking 300-500sqft sounds too small BUT it's all in the kitchen design. There's no code requirement for your kitchen size, we have worked with investors doing micro kitchens for their units (4'-6' long kitchens). Therefore, we can shrink the kitchen for this open concept space so it doesn't feel too small. The best for your buck would be splitting the main floor 2 bedroom unit. OR another idea is to create a new 20x20 (400sqft) rear side addition as your 3rd unit. That way if you already have good tenants in your building, you don't have to kick them out to split your unit.
2. No more Site Plan Control (SPC)! Before Bill 23, many projects (residential/commercial) fall under site plan control. Where the city wants us to prepare an application for them to review the site elements, parking, exterior design, landscaping, etc. BUT now, for residential projects under 10 units, we can skip this phase, this saves us 3-4 months of back and forth with the city staff and cost! Note that mixed-use building (residential/commercial), no matter number of units would still fall under SPC since it contains commerical occupancy. At this moment, I have a few ideas that could work/use this to our advantage. 1 idea is to Buy 2 plots of land (empty or with existing building) and build 2-10plex side by side with a firewall between them (since by code, creating a firewall separates the 2 building entities). Therefore, from the outside it looks like a massive 20plex unit but it's really just 2-10plex and we can share the parking lot/space for both buildings.
3. Committee of Adjustment (CoA) Changes to who can appeal, "Specified Person". Your neighbors can no longer appeal against your CoA only specific people/companies like hydro one, gas company, railway line, etc. This is especially helpful as we all know that our investors don't like us investors making money having multiple tenants in a building. So if we need to go to CoA for a zoning bylaw issue (parking, lot area, landscape area, etc) then we don't have to worry about our neighbors speaking out.
4. Development Charges. The city wants their cut for your project. BUT now, your project is exempt from DC if you are doing a duplex, triplex or a new laneway/converted garage! For projects that are 4 units or more, you will receive a discount (depending on the bedroom type) Bachelor/1 Bed, you will get a 15% discount. 2 Bed, you will get a 20% discount and finally a 3 Bed, you will get a 25% discount.