Care & Animals · 7 min read · Last updated
Hamilton licenses residential care facilities in two capacity tiers, and this is the larger one. The definition, the schedule and the checklist are shared with the four to ten resident category, but the licence fee sits at a higher tier and every charge that scales with permitted resident capacity scales further. If you are expanding an existing home past ten residents, this is the licence you move into.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “A residential complex occupied or intended to be occupied by four (4) or more persons for the purpose of receiving care services, whether receiving the services is the primary purpose of the occupancy, or licensed/required to be licensed under the Retirement Homes Act, 2010.”
Who needs this licence?
The definition is the same one that governs the smaller tier: a residential complex occupied or intended to be occupied by four or more persons for the purpose of receiving care services, whether or not that is the primary purpose of the occupancy, and including homes licensed or required to be licensed under the Retirement Homes Act, 2010.
What separates this entry is permitted resident capacity. Eleven residents or more puts the home in this category, and the licence fee sits at a higher tier than the four to ten category. If you plan to grow past ten residents, the change is not an amendment to your existing arrangement, it is a move into a different licence category with a different fee.
The operator requirements do not soften with size. You still have to show that you graduated secondary school, that you have work experience in the health care field, that the operation is financially viable, and you still have to supply municipal references, even if the day-to-day management is delegated to professional staff.
Police checks are required for someone on the corporate papers and for one of the supervisors of the location. Schedule 20 of By-law 07-170 governs, and RHRA licensed homes are treated differently on the incident plan and on how health inspection charges apply.
What documents do you need?
The checklist for this tier is the same eighteen items used for the smaller category, which matters when you are expanding: nothing gets simpler at scale, and several items get harder to produce.
The business items are the licence application form, a business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year, and proof of ownership transfer of the business where the facility is changing hands.
The premises items are the Zoning Verification Certificate or addendum, proof of property ownership or an agreement with the property owner, a scaled premise plan, and a certified electrician inspection or ESA certificate confirming compliance with the Ontario Electrical Safety Code.
The people items are the police checks for someone on the corporate papers and a supervisor of the location, a staff list with first name, last name and position, employee information forms outlining qualifications and training, and proof of the operator's secondary school graduation and health care work experience. In a facility of this size the staff list and training records are genuinely large documents, so build them from your payroll and personnel systems.
The risk items are liability insurance of at least one million dollars per claim with the address of the location shown on the paperwork, proof of financial viability, municipal references, proof of an RHRA licence if applicable, a single facility incident plan where the home is not RHRA licensed, and the Certificate of Compliance application.
Zoning and premises requirements
The Zoning Verification Certificate has to support the size of home you are actually running. Zoning that permitted a small care home does not automatically permit a larger one, so confirm the permitted capacity in writing before you add beds or buy a larger property.
A zoning addendum may be completed where the same category of business was previously licensed at the address within one year. If the previous licence was for the smaller tier, do not assume the addendum route is open to you.
The premise plan must be drawn to scale and depict parking areas, queuing areas, walkways, smoking areas, patios, seating areas, offices, all rooms, kitchen facilities, washrooms, storage areas and entrances and exits. In a facility with more residents that means every resident room, not a representative sample.
Parking is a live zoning issue at this size, because staff shifts, visitors and service vehicles all draw on the same site. The parking inspection later works from what the plan shows.
Inspections and approvals
The same four inspections apply and are circulated by the Licensing team after the application is received: fire, parking, health and Certificate of Compliance.
The fire inspection carries the most weight in a larger facility. More residents, more rooms and more storeys mean more separations, exits, alarms and evacuation planning to verify, and the fire inspection is charged again at renewal.
The parking inspection assesses on-site parking and circulation against what the site is approved for, which is where a larger staff complement often shows up as a problem.
Health inspections are charged for every permitted resident in a home not licensed with the RHRA, so at this tier the health inspection component is the largest variable in your costs. It looks at food handling, sanitation and health conditions across the facility.
The Certificate of Compliance inspection checks the premises against the compliance requirements for the licence, and it is repeated at renewal rather than being a one-time item.
How much does it cost?
The licence fee for eleven or more residents is set at a higher tier than the four to ten category. That difference is the clearest financial consequence of crossing the ten resident line, and it recurs every year at renewal.
The renewal schedule for this category is a licence fee plus a fire inspection fee, with HST applying to the fire inspection but not to the licence fee. On top of that, a health inspection charge applies for every permitted resident in a home that is not licensed with the RHRA, so a larger permitted capacity produces a larger bill.
A new application brings the same inspection set into play, which means fire, parking, health and Certificate of Compliance charges alongside the licence fee, and a zoning verification or addendum charge where you need one.
A late renewal attracts a reinstatement fee, the same one used across Hamilton's business licences. The City sets every amount in its fee schedule and confirms the figures during the application, so ask for a written estimate based on your permitted resident capacity rather than working from a per bed rule of thumb.
How to apply
Confirm capacity and zoning together. The number of residents you are permitted to house drives your fee tier, your health inspection charges and, often, whether the address works at all.
Prepare the premises evidence: a scaled premise plan covering every room, proof of ownership or the owner's agreement, and the certified electrician inspection or ESA certificate.
Assemble the operator and staffing file: secondary school graduation, health care work experience, financial viability, municipal references, the complete staff list, and employee information forms for every employee. Start this early, because in a large home it is the slowest package to complete.
Order the police checks for someone on the corporate papers and for a supervisor of the location within 36 days of filing, from the police service board where each person lives.
Submit the licence application with the Certificate of Compliance application, pay the fees that apply at intake, and wait for Licensing to circulate the fire, parking, health and compliance inspections. Clear any deficiencies and the licence issues once the file is complete.
Renewals and staying compliant
Declarations A and B are both required at renewal, and several documents must be refreshed rather than carried over.
You must provide a valid certificate of insurance, an updated staff list with first name, last name and position, and, where the home is not licensed with the RHRA, an updated single facility incident plan. In a facility with high staff turnover the staff list is the item most often out of date.
The Certificate of Compliance inspection is repeated at renewal, and the ESA certificate or electrical inspection certificate is required every three years. Keep the three year electrical cycle on a separate reminder from the annual renewal.
Renewal charges are the licence fee and the fire inspection fee, plus the per resident health inspection charge where the home is not RHRA licensed. A lapsed licence adds a reinstatement fee, and at this size an interruption affects a lot of residents, so renew well before the expiry date.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What puts a residential care facility into the 11 or more residents category?
Hamilton splits residential care facilities into a four to ten resident tier and an eleven or more tier based on permitted resident capacity, with a higher licence fee for the larger tier.
2. How does the application checklist for 11 or more residents compare with the 4 to 10 category?
Both capacity tiers sit under Schedule 20 and use the same eighteen item checklist; what changes is the fee tier and the scale of the capacity-based charges.
3. How often must the ESA certificate or electrical inspection certificate be renewed?
The renewal requirements call for an ESA certificate or electrical inspection certificate every three years, separately from the annual renewal.
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.