ZULUETA ARCHITECTURE

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 you...

Are you thinking of converting your basement or garage into a rental?  T hen you are looking   at building a secondary suite in your home.                                                                                                             What exactly is a secondary suite? A secondary suite occurs when there is another dwelling unit on the same property aside from the primary dwelling. The primary dwelling, the main house, is oc...

Spring is here! Like everyone else, we eagerly waited for its warmth and the flurry of exciting activities that comes with it. For the Do-It-Yourself people, this is the opportunity to roll up sleeves and get started on the home improvement/ construction project. Here are some tips that can help your project be more successful. Plan Your Project. From the start, be clear on the goals and what you want to achieve. Delineate the scope of work. Start off by defining the space, calculate the area to come up with the square footage. Next is to assess the physical condition of the area. Based on this assessment, make a list of the work you intend to do.   Let’s say the project is basement improvement, check if there are existing drawings. If not, then verify the area by measuring the distances. This process will help you calculate the square footage. Next is to evaluate the condition of the basement.   If it’s an unfinished basement, then definitely there is a lot o...