Building Permits and Guides

Applying for a Building Permit

Below, you will find links to our permit portals and guides for most permit types. Each guide includes the required forms. These guides will help you submit applications, whether on paper or electronically.

Please check our application submission standards and guides for your project. If you don’t see your project type listed, contact us by calling 705-324-9411, extension 1288, or by emailing buildingpermits@kawarthalakes.ca.

No work shall commence until a permit has been issued.

Once a permit has been issued, there shall be no change in the plans, specifications, documents or other information on which the permit was issued unless, written authorization has been obtained from the area Building Inspector.

Building and Septic Permit Fees

The City of Kawartha Lakes Building By-law 2024-219 (download) regulates the fees under Section 6.00.

An application shall have the minimum permit fee of $266 paid at the time of submission. If you are applying electronically, you will be prompted on submission. If you are applying in-person or in hard copy, you will have to submit this payment with your application This fee will be a deposit and deducted from the total fees applicable to your project. The total fees payable will be invoiced when the application is reviewed.

The Building and Zoning Clerk/Septic Inspector assigned to your file will determine the fee associated with the permit application, calculated in accordance with Schedule A, and the fee shall be due and payable in full upon the submission of the application for a permit.

An application may have multiple fees associated with it and may involve fees from more than one table in the by-law.

Please note there are no additional taxes (HST) applied to Building or Septic permit fees.

Building and Septic Permit Fees 2025

Schedule A: Table 1 - Administration Fees

Item	Type of Fee	Fee Payable
1	Building and Septic Compliance Letter	$225.00
2	Conditional Building Permit	10% of applicable fee from Schedule A Table 2, with a minimum of see Schedule A Table 3 Item 17 and a maximum of $5000.00
3	Construction commenced without building permit	Applicable fee from Schedule A Table 2 plus an increase of 100%
4	Construction commenced without building permit and where a Planning Application is required to comply with applicable law section of OBC	Fee calculated as per Schedule A Table 1 Item 2 plus an additional increase of 100%
5	Liquor License Approval; Determination of Occupant Load; Site Inspection relating to a sewage system location verification (where sewage system application is not required)	$150.00
6	Major Revision/Full Design Replacement to Plans which have already been examined by the City	50% of original fee paid, with a minimum of see Schedule A Table 3 Item 17 and a maximum of $1000
7	Minor Revision to Plans which have already been examined by the City – constitutes less than 25% of the design	$150.00
8	Partial Building Permit	10% of applicable fee from Schedule A Table 2, with a minimum of see Schedule A Table 3 Item 17 and a maximum of $2500.00
9	Records Scanning Fee, for paper/hard copy submissions	$15.00 per submission
10	Re-inspection to correct identified deficiencies	$150.00/inspection
11	Removal of Building Code Orders From Title	$1000.00
12	Search of Records - includes scanning and copying up to 10 pages large format drawings and 15 pages small format documents	$50.00 plus additional $25.00 for each additional large format drawings or 15 pages small format documents
13	Transfer of Permit	see Schedule A Table 3 Item 17

Schedule A: Table 2 - Fees Payable for Building Permits

Item	Class of Permit	Fee Payable
1	Building Permit	See Schedule A Table 3
2	Sewage System Permit – under 10,000 litres/day	See Schedule A Table 4
3	Alternative Solution Application/Evaluation	$1,000.00
4	Change of Use Permit	$325.00
5	Conditional Building Permit	Applicable fee from Schedule A Table 3 plus administration fee from Schedule A Table 1
6	Demolition Permit - Residential	see Schedule A Table 3 Item 17
7	Demolition Permit - All Other	$350.00
8	Lands owned by and used for the purposes of the City of Kawartha Lakes	Otherwise applicable fee pursuant to this By-law – waived
9	Mandatory Maintenance Inspection Program Inspections, where the inspection does not occur during the annual scheduled time slot for the property	$125.00
10	Municipal Housing Project Facilities that have entered into agreements with the City of Kawartha Lakes under the authority of by-law enacted pursuant to Paragraph 18, Section 2 of O. Reg. 46/94, as amended	Fees for those portions of a building meeting this criteria – waived All other floor areas falling outside of the scope of the MHP agreement – applicable fee in Schedule A
11	Pre-Approved Model (PAM) approval	see Schedule A Table 3
12	Partial Building Permit	Applicable fee from Schedule A Table 3 plus administration fee from Schedule A Table 1
13	RCA - Applicant Appointed Permit for which an RCA is appointed for plans review stage only	65% of applicable fee from Schedule A Table 2
14	Applicant Appointed RCA Permit for which an RCA is appointed for both plans review stage and inspection stage	25% of applicable fee from Schedule A Table 2
15	Applicant Appointed RCA Permit for which an RCA is appointed for inspection stage only	35% of applicable fee from Schedule A Table 2
16	Site Servicing Permit where application is filed separately from remainder of construction permit – no additional fee if included with construction permit it serves	4.5% of Construction Value

Schedule A: Table 3 - Fees Payable for Building Permits

Item	Type of Permit	For each square meter of floor area or part thereof, unless otherwise noted
		2025
1	Residential Occupancies - New and Additions, including detached ARUs and attached ARUs where addition to existing structure	$22.75
2	Additional Residential Units (ARUs) where the ARU results from a conversion of a building containing another dwelling or residential accessory use	$12.50
3	Pre-Approved Model (PAM)	$7.25
4	Residential Garages, boathouses, foundations, unenclosed porches and sheds not included in Item 5	$12.50
5	Residential Occupancies - Relocation of Existing Structures - pier or slab foundation	$743.00 flat rate
6	Minor residential structures - plumbing, decks, gazebos, partitioning of a basement, wood stove, tents on residential properties, storage shed (up to 20m2 & not including door >1.8m), water and sewer connection and other similar minor projects associated with residential use	$266.00 flat rate
7	Institutional Occupancies	$32.00
8	Commercial Occupancies - Shell	$27.75
9	Commercial Occupancies - Interior partitioning and finishing	$9.25
10	Industrial Occupancies	$18.50
11	Non-residential accessory buildings, foundations and unenclosed porches	$12.50
12	Minor non-residential projects - plumbing, school portables (each), temporary prefabricated trailers (each), tent (each) and other similar minor structures associated with non-residential use	$690.00 flat rate
13	Agricultural Buildings	$5.00
14	Designated structures as defined by the Ontario Building Code - including signs, roof mounted solar per roof face	$770.00 flat rate
15	Wind turbine facilities regulated by Environmental Protection Act, per thousand dollars of construction value, or part thereof	$20.75
16	Alterations to existing buildings (not provided for in Items 1 to 14), per thousand dollars of construction value, or part thereof	$35.25
17	Minimum Permit fee	$266.00 flat rate

Notes:

The occupancy classifications used in this by-law shall be based on the building code major occupancy classifications.
For floor areas with mixed occupancies, the fee shall be calculated based on each major occupancy within the building, except as stated in note 3.
Industrial Occupancies rate includes incidental finished office space to a maximum of 10% of the total floor area.
Floor area shall be measured to the outer face of exterior walls and to the centerline of party walls or demising walls. No deductions shall be made for openings within the floor area (eg. stairs and stair openings, ducts, elevators, escalators). Floor area shall include all habitable areas, including mezzanines, finished attics and enclosed balconies.
For detached, semi-detached and townhouse dwellings, the floor areas of the unfinished basements, plumbing and decks shall not be included in the area calculations, but the fee is inclusive of these areas if proposed and constructed at the same time as the dwelling they serve.
No additional fee applies for sprinklers, fire alarms, electromagnetic locks, site servicing or other mechanical systems or equipment proposed and installed at the same time as the construction they serve.
Construction Value, as used in Item No. 15 and 16 of Schedule A Table 3, means the value of the proposed construction as determined by the Chief Building Official or a professional appraiser.

Septic Permit Fees

Building and Septic Permit Fees 2025

Item	Type of Permit	Fee Payable
		2025
1	Class 4 - up to 4,500L design daily sewage flows	$956.00
2	Class 4 - 4,501L - 10,000L design daily sewage flows	$1168.00
3	Class 4 - tank replacement or bed repair	$452.00
4	Class 5 - holding tank and annual renewal of temporary holding tanks	$531.00
5	Class 2 - greywater system	$425.00
6	Class 3 - cesspool	$319.00
7	Existing System review for Addition/Renovation/Change of Use permit	$239.00
8	Major Change to Permit Design Submission	$292.00
9	Zoning/Official Plan Amendment/Site Plan Approval/Consent per lot (including lot line adjustment)/Minor Variance Application	$319.00
10	Subdivision Application - per lot	$319.00 per lot for first 5 + $64.00 per lot after 5

Consult with your area Septic Inspector if you are unsure which Class of System corresponds with your proposal.

How to make a payment for Building and Septic Division applications

There are two options for making payments relating to subsequent payments for Building and Septic Division applications:

In Person – Available at the following locations:

Development Services Hub building - 180 Kent Street West, Lindsay
Coboconk Municipal Service Centre - 9 Grandy Road, Coboconk

Please ensure you print off your invoice and bring it with you, as staff are not able to process a payment using an image on your cell phone or tablet. Payment options are cash, debit or cheque, made payable to the City of Kawartha Lakes.

Online Banking – Please download the Public Online Banking Instructions and follow the steps provided. Please note: if you have previously used this option we have switched accounts and require you to follow the instructions that were updated Spring of 2020, and set up a new payee with your banking institution.

Electronic Submissions:

If you are submitting electronically, you will use the respective application portal to upload all the completed forms that are required in the Application Guide.

Electronic Application Submission Standards

Paper Submissions:

We are going paperless in 2025!

If are unable to submit electronically, you will use the Application Guide relating to your project as found below to print and fill out all the forms for paper submission. Where the guide mentions uploads, these will be attachments to your application. Please see our drop off options on our main page. There is $15 Record Scanning Fee for all paper submissions.

Submissions made at our Service Centres and not at our office at 180 Kent St. W. will be subject to a delay in processing

Paper Application Submission Standards