Accommodation & Rentals · 7 min read · Last updated
If you offer bedrooms to travellers for stays of seven days or less, Hamilton licenses that as a bed and breakfast under Schedule 3 of By-law 07-170. The application is a paperwork exercise first and an inspection exercise second: you assemble plans, a police check and proof of your business registration, then the City arranges fire, health and parking inspections. Nothing is issued until those are cleared.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “A premises where one or more bedrooms are offered to members of the public who may pay for the use of a bedroom on any basis for 7 days or less and includes an inn but does not include a lodging house.”
Who needs this licence?
You need this licence if your premises offers one or more bedrooms to members of the public who can pay to use a bedroom on any basis for seven days or less. The wording is deliberately broad. It catches a single spare room let out a few weekends a year just as readily as a full-time guest house, and it expressly includes an inn.
The definition expressly excludes a lodging house. If four or more people are lodged in rooms without kitchen facilities for their exclusive use, that is a lodging home under Schedule 9, with its own inspections and a Certificate of Compliance. The dividing line is not the number of bedrooms. It is whether your occupants are short-stay members of the travelling public or longer-term residents of rooms.
Hamilton applies the same Schedule 3 definition to hotels and motels. If what you run is a motel with a parking court or a hotel with a front desk, you apply under that heading instead, and the inspection pattern and fee lines differ even though the definition reads the same.
One item that is specific to this licence in the City guide: a sign permit may be required for a new application. If you intend to put up any outdoor sign for the business, treat it as a separate approval under the Sign By-law and start it early rather than after your licence is issued.
What documents do you need?
Start with the completed Business Licence Application Form and a valid business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year of the application. The date limit exists so the City is licensing an entity that is currently in good standing, not one that was registered years ago and has since lapsed.
Next comes the zoning side: a Zoning Verification Certificate for the address, or a zoning addendum if the same category of business was licensed there within the past year. That confirms the use is permitted before anyone spends time inspecting the house.
You also need a Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check from the police service board in your city of residence, dated within 36 days of your application. Third party clearances are not accepted. Because the check has a short shelf life, order it once the rest of your package is nearly assembled rather than first.
The drawings do the heavy lifting. A detailed site plan shows where the establishment sits on the lot, with setbacks to all property lines and the location, dimensions and driveway access for required parking. A premise plan drawn to scale shows all rooms clearly, together with parking and queuing areas, walkways, smoking areas, patios, seating, cloak rooms, kitchen facilities, bar areas, washrooms, storage and entrances and exits, and it must carry a fire evacuation plan showing exits, smoke detection and fire extinguishers. A certified electrician inspection or ESA certificate confirms the wiring complies with the Ontario Electrical Safety Code.
Finally, supply a sample guest registration form. This is the item that most clearly marks the file as a short-stay accommodation business: the City wants to see that you record who is sleeping in the house and on what dates.
Zoning and premises requirements
Zoning is checked at the address, not at the person. Before the licence can proceed, the City needs a Zoning Verification Certificate confirming that a bed and breakfast is permitted at your property under the zoning by-law that applies there.
There is a shortcut worth asking about. If the same category of business was licensed at that address within the previous year, a zoning addendum may be completed instead of a full verification certificate. That usually means less waiting, and the zoning line on the fee schedule covers either route.
Two drawings carry the zoning and site detail. The detailed site plan has to show the establishment on the property with setbacks for all property lines and the location, dimensions and driveway access to required parking spaces, which is how the City satisfies itself that guest parking is real rather than notional. The premise plan must be drawn to scale, show all rooms clearly, and depict parking, queuing and walkway areas, smoking areas, patios, seating areas, offices, cloak rooms, dance and disc jockey areas, kitchen facilities, bar areas, washrooms, storage areas and entrances and exits, plus the fire evacuation plan.
Inspections and approvals
Three inspections are listed, and they are arranged after your application is received rather than before. You do not book them yourself as a precondition of applying.
- Fire inspection, listed for new applications only. The inspector looks at the life safety side of a house where strangers sleep: exits and exit routes, smoke detection, extinguishers and whether the building matches the fire evacuation plan you filed with your premise plan.
- Health inspection. Because a bed and breakfast serves food to guests, the public health side is checked at the outset and again at renewal.
- Parking inspection. The inspector compares the parking shown on your site plan with what actually exists on the ground, including dimensions and driveway access.
The health inspection is the one that recurs. It appears on both the new application and the renewal schedule, which tells you the City expects to see the food side of the operation regularly, not just once.
How much does it cost?
There is no single price. The bed and breakfast schedule is built from separate lines that add up: a processing fee, the licence fee itself, and a fee for each of the fire, health and parking inspections.
Zoning sits outside that subtotal. The schedule shows a total without zoning and a second total with the zoning verification or addendum fee added, so what you pay depends on whether you need that step.
HST does not apply uniformly. Some lines, including the processing fee and the inspection fees, carry HST on top of the set fee, while the licence fee and the zoning verification line are shown without it. Your invoice will look uneven for that reason.
Renewal is cheaper than a first application because the fire and parking inspection lines drop away, leaving the licence fee and the health inspection. If you let the licence lapse and need it reinstated, a separate reinstatement fee applies. The City sets all amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them with you during the application.
How to apply
Work in the order the checklist implies rather than the order it is printed. Confirm zoning for the address first, since a refusal there ends the exercise before you have paid for plans.
Then commission the drawings. A scaled premise plan showing all rooms and a detailed site plan with setbacks and parking dimensions take the longest to produce, and they are the items most often sent back for rework.
With the drawings underway, get the electrical certificate, prepare your sample guest registration form, and refresh your business registration if it is more than a year old. Order the criminal records and judicial matters check last, because it must be dated within 36 days of the application.
Submit the completed application form with your package and pay the processing and licence fees along with the applicable inspection fees. The City then arranges the fire, health and parking inspections. Clear whatever they raise, and the licence follows.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renewal is not automatic and it is not a simple re-payment. Declarations A and B have to be completed each time, which is where you confirm that nothing material about the business or the premises has changed.
The renewal schedule keeps the licence fee and a health inspection. The fire inspection line is marked for new applications only, and the parking inspection does not repeat, so a renewal is a lighter exercise than the first application, focused on the food and guest side of the operation.
Renew before your licence lapses. A late licence carries a reinstatement fee on top of the ordinary renewal cost, and operating without a current licence is a compliance problem in its own right. If your premises, room count or parking arrangement has changed since your last plans were filed, expect to update the drawings rather than resubmit the old ones.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Which stay length brings a Hamilton premises under the bed and breakfast definition?
Schedule 3 defines the premises by the paying public using a bedroom on any basis for seven days or less, which is what separates it from longer-tenure accommodation licences.
2. Which inspection does the bed and breakfast schedule list for new applications only?
The fire inspection line is marked new applications only, while the health inspection reappears on the renewal schedule.
3. What checklist item does a bed and breakfast application need that a hotel or motel application does not?
The site plan, police check and electrical certificate appear on both checklists, but only the bed and breakfast list asks for a sample of the form guests will complete.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.