The Bittersweet of Secondary Suites

I had a building permit revoked because the City would not accept that the walk out basement renovation was for the use of the homeowner’s son. It did not matter if it was the truth- as long as the City saw a bedroom, a kitchen and a washroom in a basement, it’s a suite to be leased out to a tenant. For people who are not familiar with the process- once a space is classified as a secondary suite, there is a long list of requirements that needs to be met. You need to go thru a development permit (and good luck with that) and go thru all code requirements as well.


It’s unbelievable to me how one sided and convoluted this interpretation of secondary suite. This to me is an infringement of property rights. Plus, there is no recognition of multigenerational lifestyle and diversity.  For example, it’s a traditional practice for communities with Asian heritages to live with their family way into their adulthood. Also, when you are a new immigrant it’s common to live with one of your relatives or friends until you get settled.


I understand that these policies are made to safeguard public safety but it should not limit and predetermine how you should use your space, your house and your lifestyle. So, the only way your family can live in your basement is to have only two of these 3 rooms- a bedroom, a kitchen and a toilet. Isn’t that ridiculous?


******************************************************************************
Please feel free to contact us at info@zuluetaarchitecture.com.
Check out our website at www.zuluetaarchitecture.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Hello,

We appreciate your feedback and we will get back to you shortly.

Regards,

Joann Zulueta

Popular posts from this blog

How to Become a Licensed Architect in Canada

Image
How to Become a Licensed Architect in Canada  is a question I get asked a lot given that I got my professional training outside of Canada.  I was a licensed architect in the Philippines prior to coming to Canada. I get fairly regular queries from internationally trained architects, from different backgrounds,  who are close to  migrating to Canada or architects that are already in Canada and needs some insight in getting their architectural license, accreditation and the Canadian experience. Architectural Job First things first, it would be best to get employed working as an architectural designer in an architectural firm. When I was a newcomer to Canada, I landed in British Columbia and that was where I started to look for work. It was very hard to find work in my field at that time. I think it was a combination of lack of Canadian experience plus the economy was not too good. Looking back that was almost 20 years ago now, year 2000. After assessing my situation in BC, I wa
Read more

How to Design A Restaurant to Building Code

Image
How To Design A Restaurant to Building Code.  One of the more popular small businesses that I have worked with are restaurants. The restaurant business, specially for a newbie, poses its own unique challenges and can be quite daunting in the beginning. There are requirements in terms of design, building code and permitting that are very specific to a restaurant project.  This post offers advice mainly to business start-ups and small business owners in planning and designing for a small restaurant, specially their first one.  A small restaurant, for the purpose of this discussion,  are restaurants that have floor areas from 1,000 square foot to 2,000 square foot and has a dining area.  The reference in code will be the Alberta Building Code. Here are the items to consider: SEATING The seating and the number of seats is critical to the success of the restaurant. The more seats you have, the more opportunities to generate revenue. To be allowed a certain number of  people
Read more

Philippine Architect Salary vs. Other Asian Architects: A Snapshot

Image
2015 Architect Salary Guide: Philippines, China, HK, Singapore by Zulueta Architecture Take a look at the Architect Salary Guide Table, this is based on 2015 Hays Salary Guide- Asia, 2015 Adrem Group Salary Guide and 2015 JobStreet Salary Report. I converted the salaries to US dollars per month and the data on all these reports are comparable. Its a snapshot of salaries, it does not mention cost of living but check the compensation for a Filipino Architect compared to your Asian neighbors.  If you start off with China, on the average, you are paid a third less.  HK and Singapore rates are fairly close to North American rates. Are you any less talented or are will you work any less harder than your counterparts in Asia ? No . The problem is Philippine economy – salaries has not improved over the years. The Filipino salaries are still the same rates ten years ago and yet cost of living has gone up radically. Eventually you have to ask yourself, what is your future as a Filipino
Read more