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Multi-Tenant Housing

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Brampton is home to many types of shared housing, from students renting rooms to families sharing homes. The City’s goal is to make sure every shared home is safe, well-maintained, and legally operated.

Types of Shared Accommodations

Shared accommodations are homes where several people live together and share common spaces such as kitchens, bathrooms, or living areas. These living arrangements make housing more affordable and accessible for residents at various life stages and income levels. Examples of different types of shared accommodations include:

Homestay or Exchange Programs

Individuals live with a host family, typically as part of a student or cultural exchange program.

Group Living (Single Housekeeping Units)

Family, friends, or coworkers share control of the home and live together as a single household.

Co-Living

Up to four tenants rent separate rooms and share common spaces.

Lodging Houses

Five or more people rent separate rooms, each with private or shared bedrooms and shared kitchens/bathrooms.

Why Shared Accommodations Matters

Not all residents can afford or need traditional single-family homes. Shared accommodations and lodging houses offer cost-effective alternatives, particularly for students, seniors and low-income individuals.

How the City Regulates Shared Accommodations

The City regulates lodging houses through zoning, business licensing, and safety inspections to ensure they meet health, fire, and building standards.

  • A Residential Rental License is required for any rental operation that is not a lodging house.
  • A Loding House Licence is required when more than four tenants rent separate rooms without functioning as a single housekeeping unit.
  • All rental units must comply with zoning, property standards, fire, and building requirements.

Lodging House Myth vs. Fact

Myth: Any house can become a lodging house.

Buildings must first meet Ontario Building Code and Fire Code requirements, which require a change of use permit to first be issued by the City and often require significant structural upgrades before the use can be permitted.

Myth: All multi-tenant occupancies are lodging houses.

A lodging house is generally defined as a dwelling where more than four separate tenants rent separate rooms, like a hotel, and only share common facilities such as kitchens and bathrooms. A group of tenants living together as a group (e.g. students, friends) is not a lodging house. These units may still require a license to operate if located in one of the Residential Rental License (RRL) pilot wards.

Myth: Lodging houses are unsafe.

Safety issues arise mainly in unregulated units. A comprehensive regulatory framework improves accountability and safety by making operators accountable. Where licensed, lodging houses are inspected annually to ensure dwellings are safe and comply with fire code, building code, public health, property and occupancy standards.

Myth: Lodging houses only serve students and transient renters.

Lodging houses support a wide range of residents including seniors, newcomers, single workers, and people in transition. For many, they are the only affordable and flexible housing option available.

Enforcement and Compliance

The City of Brampton is responsible for enforcing compliance with zoning, property standards and licensing regulations. Penalties for violations can be significant, including fines under the Planning Act, Building Code Act, and Municipal Act. Administrative penalties are also imposed for certain offences such as constructing additional bedrooms without a permit which can range from $250 to $1,250.

Key Facts

  • The City cannot regulate based on who lives together or their relationship — only how the property is used.
  • Enforcement requires sufficient evidence of a contravention before taking any action.
  • If a resident suspects a violation has occurred, detailed information should be provided about the specific use and violation, as well as the manner in which this information became known, to support the investigation.

To report a concern, call 3-1-1 or submit a complaint online through the portal.​

Frequently Asked Questions

The City currently defines a lodging house (sometimes called a rooming or boarding house) as a dwelling where more than four individual tenants rent separate rooms, while sharing common areas like kitchens or bathrooms. This is different from shared accommodations where tenants live as a single housekeeping unit and share control over the unit (e.g., sharing meals and household decisions).

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If the occupants/tenants, irrespective of their relationship, occupy and control the dwelling unit as a single housekeeping unit (family unit or similar social unit) whereby they all have access to all areas of the house, including the bedrooms and share decision making ability, it is not considered a lodging house and does not require a license. However, may be subject to other licensing and registration requirements, as applicable.

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The City has paused the Lodging House Review to focus resources on current housing initiatives and ongoing work to modernize rental regulations.

With multiple housing and rental programs already underway, the City is prioritizing efforts that directly support housing supply and affordability in the short term. This ensures resources are directed toward areas of greatest immediate impact.

The City remains committed to safe, affordable, and well-regulated housing. Pausing this project allows staff to align future policies with the developing housing framework and other programs, such as RRL and PBR. The project may be revisited in the future as these initiatives evolve.

Boarding, lodging or rooming house under the Ontario Building Code means a building,

  1. that has a building height not exceeding three storeys and a building area not exceeding 600m²,
  2. in which lodging is provided for more than four persons in return for remuneration or for the provision of services or for both, and
  3. in which the lodging rooms do not have both bathrooms and kitchen facilities for the exclusive use of individual occupants

The Ontario Building Code defines a dwelling unit as a suite operated as a housekeeping unit, used or intended to be used by one or more persons and usually containing cooking, eating, living, sleeping and sanitary facilities. In order to distinguish between a dwelling unit and a lodging house, recent case law has identified some of the key characteristics of a dwelling unit to try and help define what a “single housekeeping unit” is. These dwelling unit characteristics include the following:

  • All of the tenants in a house knowing each other well in advance of signing their lease
  • All of the tenants deciding together who gets which room with no influence from the owner or their representative
  • No keyed locks on any of the bedroom doors
  • The tenants enter into a group lease
  • The tenants pay the rent as a group
  • The tenants pay all of the utilities in their name separate from the rent
  • That neither the owner nor any of their relatives live in the house (although this may help to reduce the number of lodgers to four or less, if they are on the ownership)
  • The tenants have access to the entire house
  • The tenants provide all of the furniture for the entire house
  • The tenants are responsible for the cleaning of the house
  • That there have not been any renovations to increase the number bedrooms in the house

When upgrading to or constructing a lodging house the Ontario Building Code typically requires items such as the following:

  • Fire rated floors and roofs
  • Fire separated bedrooms, including fire rated doors and self closers
  • Fire rated corridors (hallways), including fire rated doors and self closers
  • Fire rated construction, including fire rated doors and self closers, around the stairs on each storey to separate them as segregated, protected exit stairs leading directly to the exterior and protecting exterior stairs from exterior windows or other openings
  • Fire separated ancillary rooms (storage rooms, washrooms, laundry rooms, service rooms), including fire rated doors and self closers
  • Two required exits from each floor level (depending on the number of lodgers or if there is sleeping accommodation in the basement) *Please note that an egress window is not deemed as an exit.
  • Interconnected, hardwired smoke alarms with battery back-up and visual signals throughout the lodging house, including in each bedroom
  • CO alarms and fire extinguishers
  • Emergency lights and exit signs
  • A fire alarm system (depending on the number of lodgers)
  • Barrier free (including wheelchair) accessibility (depending on the number of lodgers)

Any room used for sleeping must be constructed under a building permit issued by the City of Brampton and constructed in compliance with the Ontario Building Code standards for a bedroom. Existing rooms also cannot be converted into bedrooms without a permit. Click here for building permit requirements for interior alteration​.

Should you choose to bring the property into compliance by reducing the number of lodgers, you will be required to terminate the associated leases in accordance with the legal requirements under the Residential Tenancies Act, and are encouraged to work collectively with your tenants to find alternative living options for them.

Depending on the size and layout of the house there may be an opportunity to construct an additional residential unit and upgrade to a two-unit house instead of continuing operating a lodging house.

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Key Forms and Documents

Related Links

Contact

For information about the City of Brampton's lodging house regulations, please contact:

enforcement@brampton.ca​​