Straight answers
What are the current garden suite rules in Toronto?
A garden suite is the program for a lot without lane access. It is capped at 120 square metres of gross floor area, or 60 square metres if it is a single storey, runs to two storeys, and reaches 4.0 metres in height where it sits less than 7.5 metres from the house and 6.3 metres at 7.5 metres or more. No vehicle parking is required; two bicycle spaces are. Council deleted the angular plane rules on 24 July 2025 through By-law 849-2025, and the City's online consolidation of the zoning by-law still shows the pre-amendment rules, so pages quoting it publish superseded numbers.
Figures verified against the sources below · August 31, 2026
01 — The longer answer
Which program your lot qualifies for
Your lot picks the program: a laneway suite needs a rear or side lot line abutting a lane for at least 3.5 metres, and a lot may not contain both. Laneway suites are capped by envelope rather than area, at 8.0 metres wide by 10.0 metres long, with gross floor area below that of the house. By-law 847-2025 made the matching angular plane deletion for that program on the same date.
On severance, the City states that severances resulting in the house and a garden suite on separate lots are not permitted. There is no equivalent published statement for laneway suites, so we do not assert one either way.
We review your lot against the amending by-laws, not the consolidation, during feasibility.
03 — Sources
Each figure above links to the authority it came from.
By-law 849-2025 (garden suites), enacted and passed 24 July 2025: maximum gross floor area 120 sq m, or 60 sq m for a one-storey suite; height 4.0 m under 7.5 m separation and 6.3 m at 7.5 m or more; angular plane regulations 150.7.60.30(2), (3) and (4) deleted
toronto.caBy-law 847-2025 (laneway suites), enacted and passed 24 July 2025: separation of no less than 4.0 m at or below 4.0 m height and 7.5 m above it, 6.3 m height, and angular plane regulations 150.8.60.30(2), (3) and (4) deleted
toronto.caZoning By-law Chapter 150.8: a laneway suite must be on a lot with a rear or side lot line abutting a lane for at least 3.5 metres; maximum building length 10.0 m and width 8.0 m; no parking space required
toronto.caCity of Toronto garden suites page: a garden suite is located in an ancillary building not on a public lane, and severances resulting in a primary dwelling and a garden suite on two separate lots are not permitted
toronto.ca
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