Permits & Certificates · 5 min read · Last updated
A Certificate of Compliance is not a business licence. It is issued by Licensing and By-law Services under the Property Standards By-law, and most people meet it as a required step inside another application rather than as something they seek on its own. Its fee is tiered by what kind of building is being certified and how big it is, which tells you a great deal about how it is used.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “Certificate of Compliance is issued by Licensing and By-law Services pursuant to the Property Standards By-law.”
Who needs this permit?
A Certificate of Compliance is issued by Licensing and By-law Services pursuant to the Property Standards By-law. It is a statement about the condition of a building, not a permission to run a business, and it sits outside the business licensing by-law entirely.
You will normally need one because another licence requires it. Within Hamilton's accommodation and rental licences, three call for it: a lodging home requires a Certificate of Compliance at the initial application and every three years, a rental housing units application includes the Certificate of Compliance application form on its checklist, and the entire dwelling stream of the short-term rental operator licence requires a completed Certificate of Compliance application.
It is equally instructive to note who does not need one. Bed and breakfast, hotel and motel applications under Schedule 3 do not include it, and neither does the partial dwelling short-term rental stream, which uses a self-certification checklist instead. The pattern is that the certificate attaches to buildings where people live, or where guests occupy a whole unit without a host present.
The fee schedule shows the building types the certificate is written for: single detached dwellings, two, three or multiple unit dwellings, lodging houses, residential care facilities, and buildings banded by floor area from small through to extra large.
What documents do you need?
The document at the centre of this process is the Certificate of Compliance Application Form. It appears as a numbered checklist item on the lodging home, rental housing units and entire dwelling short-term rental applications, which is the clearest indication that it is normally submitted as part of a licence package rather than on its own.
Alongside the form, you need the building information that determines your fee tier. The schedule prices a single detached dwelling differently from a two, three or multiple unit dwelling, which carries an additional amount for each dwelling unit beyond the first. A lodging house carries an additional amount for each permitted resident, and a residential care facility carries a per-resident amount as well.
Where the building is priced by size rather than type, the bands run from small at up to 1000 square feet, through medium at 1000 to 2500 square feet and large at 2500 to 5000 square feet, to extra large at 5000 square feet or above. Know which band your building falls into before you apply.
Because your unit count and permitted resident count feed directly into both the fee and the scope of the inspection, settle those numbers deliberately. Applying on the basis of a resident count you have not thought through is how a lodging home file ends up being re-priced partway through.
Zoning and premises requirements
Zoning and property standards are two different tests, and the certificate is squarely on the property standards side. It says the building meets the standards required of it; it says nothing about whether the use is permitted at that address.
That is why there is no Zoning Verification Certificate on this file. Zoning verification belongs to the business licence application the certificate supports, and it is handled there.
In practice you will often be doing both at once. A lodging home application needs a Zoning Verification Certificate or a zoning addendum as well as a Certificate of Compliance, and so does a rental housing units application. Where the short-term rental operator licence is concerned, zoning verification only applies to secondary dwelling units, while the Certificate of Compliance applies to the entire dwelling stream regardless. Keep the two threads separate in your own planning, because they are assessed by different people against different rules.
Inspections and approvals
The certificate is issued on the strength of a Certificate of Compliance inspection. Each of the licences that requires the certificate lists that inspection among the inspections carried out after the application has been received, with the request circulated by the licensing team.
What the inspection assesses is the building against the Property Standards By-law: the condition and maintenance of the property rather than food safety or business conduct. On a lodging home file it runs alongside a fire inspection and a parking inspection; on a rental housing units file it runs alongside a fire inspection; on an entire dwelling short-term rental it runs alongside a fire administrative review.
Because the inspection follows the application rather than preceding it, deficiencies found at that point delay the licence that depends on the certificate. If you know the building has outstanding maintenance issues, dealing with them before you file is far quicker than dealing with them after an inspector has written them up.
How much does it cost?
The fee is tiered rather than flat, and the tiers describe the building rather than the business.
One rate covers a single detached dwelling. A two, three or multiple unit dwelling starts at the same base rate but adds a further amount for each additional dwelling unit beyond the first. A lodging house starts at that base rate too, then adds an amount for each permitted resident, which is why the lodging home licence schedule shows a per-resident line multiplied by the number of permitted residents. A residential care facility works the same way, with its own per-resident amount.
Where a building is priced by size instead, four bands apply: small up to 1000 square feet, medium from 1000 to 2500 square feet, large from 2500 to 5000 square feet, and extra large at 5000 square feet or above. The fee rises with each band.
HST is added to the set fee on every line in this schedule, including the per-unit and per-resident add-ons. The City sets all amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them with you during the application, so treat the tier structure rather than any specific figure as the thing to plan around.
How to apply
Work out which licence is driving the requirement. In nearly every case the certificate is a component of a lodging home, rental housing units or entire dwelling short-term rental application, and it is submitted with that package.
Establish your fee tier. Identify the building type, and then the figure that drives the add-on: the number of dwelling units beyond the first, the number of permitted residents, or the floor area band.
Complete the Certificate of Compliance Application Form and file it with the licence application, paying the certificate fee together with the other application fees.
The licensing team circulates the inspection request along with the other inspections on the file. Once the Certificate of Compliance inspection is passed, Licensing and By-law Services issues the certificate, and the licence that depends on it can proceed.
Renewals and staying compliant
The certificate is not open-ended. On a lodging home, the fee schedule states the Certificate of Compliance is required upon initial application and every three years, and the same three-year cadence appears again in the lodging home renewal requirements.
That means the certificate runs on its own clock, separate from the annual rhythm of the licence it supports. A lodging home renews its licence and repeats its fire inspection every year, but the certificate and its per-resident fee come round every third year. Plan for that heavier year.
Where the certificate supports a different licence, follow the cadence attached to that licence rather than assuming the three-year figure applies universally. If your unit count or permitted resident count has changed since the last certificate, raise it when you reapply, because both the fee and the scope of the inspection depend on those numbers.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Under what authority is a Hamilton Certificate of Compliance issued?
The certificate is issued by Licensing and By-law Services pursuant to the Property Standards By-law, which is why it is a certificate rather than a business licence.
2. How is the Certificate of Compliance fee structured?
The schedule sets rates for single detached, multiple unit, lodging house and residential care buildings, bands other buildings by floor area, and adds per-unit or per-resident amounts.
3. Which of these Hamilton licences requires a Certificate of Compliance?
Lodging homes, rental housing units and entire dwelling short-term rentals require the certificate, while the Schedule 3 accommodation licences and the partial dwelling stream do not.
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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.