Permits & Certificates · 5 min read · Last updated
A sign permit is not a business licence. It is issued under Hamilton's Sign By-law, By-law No. 10-197, which regulates all outdoor signs and advertising space so that signs are not a safety hazard and the city stays visually clean. Holding a business licence does not cover your signage, and a sign permit does not licence your business, so most operators putting up outdoor advertising need both.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “Sign By-law regulates all outdoor signs and advertising space. This by-law ensures that signs are not a safety hazard and assists in maintaining a clean and positive space in the city.”
Who needs this permit?
The Sign By-law regulates all outdoor signs and advertising space in Hamilton. If you are putting up something outdoors to advertise, you are in scope, whether it is a temporary sign on the ground or a permanent one fixed to a building.
The permit categories in the fee schedule show the range covered: mobile signs for 28 consecutive days or for 14 consecutive days, mobile signs advertising a grand opening or closing promotional event for 7 consecutive days, sidewalk signs by the year, banners for 28 consecutive days or for a 7-day grand opening or closing event, inflatable signs for 7 consecutive days, new home development portable signs by the year, permanent signs, changes to existing signs, corrugated plastic signs by the year for each location on a property, and A-frame signs on sidewalks for a three-year period.
This is a permit, not a licence, and it falls under By-law No. 10-197 rather than the business licensing by-law. That distinction matters when you are planning a new business: a bed and breakfast application, for instance, notes that a sign permit may be required, and that is a separate approval on a separate track.
Permits are tied to a specific sign at a specific location for a specific term. Moving a mobile sign to another property, or extending the display beyond the permitted period, means a new permit rather than an amendment to the one you hold.
What documents do you need?
The checklist is short. You file a completed Sign Application Form, which identifies the sign type, its location and the term you are applying for.
With it goes the Mobile Permit Application Sketch: a map demonstrating the sign location, the property lines and the municipal address. That sketch is doing three jobs at once. It shows the sign will sit on the property it advertises for, it lets the compliance officer find it, and it gives the City a record to check the sign against when the permit expires.
Because there is no zoning certificate, no plan set and no inspection of your business on this file, the sketch carries more weight than its simplicity suggests. Draw the property lines accurately and mark the municipal address clearly.
Zoning and premises requirements
There is no Zoning Verification Certificate on the sign permit checklist. Signs are regulated by the Sign By-law itself rather than through the zoning verification process used for business licences.
What stands in its place is the application sketch. By showing the sign location together with the property lines and the municipal address, it establishes where the sign will be relative to the boundaries of the property, which is the placement question the by-law is concerned with.
If you are also applying for a business licence at the same address, the zoning verification you obtain for that licence is a separate document on a separate file. One does not substitute for the other.
Inspections and approvals
There are no fire, health or building inspections on a sign permit. Instead, a Licensing Compliance Officer attends the property, and does so twice.
- On placement of the sign, to confirm it complies with the permit and the by-law, including that it is where your sketch said it would be.
- On expiry of the permit, to confirm the sign has been removed.
The second visit is the one people forget. A permit with a fixed term, such as 7, 14 or 28 consecutive days, ends on its expiry date whether or not you have taken the sign down, and the officer attends specifically to check that it is gone. Build removal into your promotional plan rather than treating it as an afterthought.
How much does it cost?
There is no single sign permit fee. The schedule prices each sign type against a duration, so what you pay depends on what you are putting up and for how long.
The pattern is easy to read once you see it. Short fixed terms are priced individually: mobile signs at 28 consecutive days and at 14 consecutive days sit at different levels, and a mobile sign or banner advertising a grand opening or closing promotional event for 7 consecutive days is priced separately again. Inflatable signs are priced for 7 consecutive days.
Annual permits cover sidewalk signs, new home development portable signs, and corrugated plastic signs, the last of which is charged per location on each property. Permanent signage is priced per property, with a separate rate for changes to existing signs, and A-frame signs on sidewalks are permitted for a three-year period.
Unlike the business licence fee tables, the sign schedule is presented as a single fee per category rather than split into a set fee plus HST. The City sets all amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them when you apply.
How to apply
Decide the sign type and the term before you start. The fee schedule is organised that way, and getting it wrong means reapplying rather than adjusting.
Prepare the sketch. Map the sign location with the property lines and the municipal address, and make sure the sign sits where you actually intend to place it.
Submit the completed Sign Application Form with the sketch and pay the fee for that sign type and duration.
Place the sign once the permit is in hand. A Licensing Compliance Officer will attend to confirm compliance on placement, and again at expiry to confirm the sign has been removed. Diarize the expiry date the day you get the permit.
Renewals and staying compliant
Sign permits are not renewed in the way a business licence is. They run for the term you applied for, and when that term ends the permit ends with it.
Terms vary widely by category. Some are measured in consecutive days, such as the 7, 14 and 28 day mobile sign, banner and inflatable sign permits. Others run by the year, such as sidewalk signs, new home development portable signs and corrugated plastic signs. A-frame signs on sidewalks are permitted for a three-year period, the longest term in the schedule.
To continue displaying a sign past its term, apply again for the next period. And remember what the officer checks at expiry: the sign is to be removed. If you intend to keep it up, get the next permit in place before the current one runs out rather than after.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Which by-law governs sign permits in Hamilton?
Signs are regulated by the Sign By-law, By-law No. 10-197, which is separate from the business licensing by-law and from the property standards regime.
2. What does a Licensing Compliance Officer check when a sign permit expires?
The officer attends both on placement and on expiry, and the expiry visit is specifically to confirm the sign is taken down.
3. What must the mobile permit application sketch show?
The sketch is a map of sign location, property lines and municipal address, which is what lets the compliance officer locate and assess the sign.
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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.