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Well at least Brampton has household waste pickup EVERY week. Now you can see why!

There's a house that's up for sale for a while now near where I'm living. It's listed at a pretty high price (especially initially, they've dropped the price on it $25K already), so, when I went to check why, I noticed the listing shows that it has an unlicensed basement apartment, which probably explains why the seller had to drop the price from their original expectations, and why it's sat on the market for a great deal of time. I imagine from a buyer's perspective having that basement apartment, but not having all the proper approvals is a big deterrent. You have no idea what you're getting, and how much work and money you need to put into it to make it official.

I think you can get away with building a basement appartment as long as it is called an inlaw suite. A friend of mine moved his elderly parents into the house but to give them some "privacy" they had a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom all built and like an earlier post mentioned, a door was added on the landing of the staris to main floor so it had its own entrance.

They said the approvals were nothing to get done. As long as they weren't renting it to anybody it was all legal.

I have seen several houses on the market with an "In law suite" in the basement. I guess thats code for unlicenced appartment, unless you really want your in laws down there...

If you have ever listened to Hazel Mccallion, one of her biggest regrets where allowing council to pass a law legalizing basement apartments.

She claims that is one of the biggest reasons there is more traffic, to quote,
"Mississauga infrastructure was planned and built for 750 000 people. Then to let another 100 000 people just come in and live here is just plan crazy!"

If Milton does allow basement dwelling, I just hope they plan on the addition infrastructure required; roads, hospitals, water, sewage, etc...

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Pain is Temporary Pride is forever

Basement apartments are legal in Milton. Call town planning and they will tell ya what you need to do to meet code.
This was already discussed sometime back on here.

I'm not expert in this area, and am not in favour of basement apartments in general for the reasons of the added pressure the additional habitants place on municipal infrastructure, the (perceived) neighbourhood crowding and reduction in property value in the area (e.g. is the neighbourhood single-family dwellings vs. high density?). Imagine making your investment in a single-family neighbourhood only to learn that it is being morphed into multi-family residences. I think it is fair to suggest that individual property values are influenced by those in the immediately surrounding area. From personal experience, I know that we passed on buying a particular home specifically due to what we saw the immediately neighbouring homes doing.

As I've never really considered this kind of approach, I would be interested to know the overall ramifications for a homeowner such as:

a) If a basement apartment is installed, would the home technically be subject to a re-assessment, and resulting property tax increase?

b) Would I be correct to presume that those renting out their basements for any fee should be legally required to declare that income, and pay the associated income taxes?

I would suggest that both of the above are a "yes". If that is the case, and someone is renting out their basement "under the table", are they not placing burdens on the community systems for which they are not paying a fair share?

I suppose that if it is done to code, with proper approvals, and property and income taxes reflect the net result, that is a fair approach. However, my suspicion is that 90%+ of these scenarios are operated without those approvals or declarations of income.

In 10 years Milton will be the next Brampton (including decreasing property values). Basement apartments were the worst thing that ever happened to Brampton. What is even more funny is that they are totally illegal as well. Brampton doesn't allow ANY rental basement apartments.

Now Brampton residents living in 2500 sq/ft detached homes get to put up with shopping carts at every street corner and 4 cars in each extended driveway.

Aside from students in the university, why would anyone want to move to milton to live in someones basement? I dont get this huge basement rental demand.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Where do you live? Milton plan for additional required infrastructure? Hahahahaha! Not until we have people like Zeeshan, Rick, Mike, Martin, Andrew, Jennifer, on the council. And of course...Prickly Pete for Mayor! Spread the word people!!!! Get the right people in!!

This is a non-issue for Milton for the most part. Unless you have good public transportation linking Milton to GTA, there may be random basements that would be rented out but nothing like Brampton/Mississauga. Brampton's population is mostly new immigrants making close to if not minimum wage and trying to hustle and make ends meet so renting out their basements is necessary but Milton doesn't have that problem yet. Most folks here talk about nannies and house cleaners...

Milton starts to freak out when you mention Brampton anyways and now couple that with basement apartments.........I see this thread going a long way

Thanks for all of your input . I guess I asked a simple question and
I havent got an answer yet .
In my opinion if the basements are built meeting all the legal requirements and safety, I dont see any problem renting it.
For those who says by doing so this city will be like Brampton I bet it will be very soon once the jobs get created near milton area.Not everyone
can afford to buy the house, most of these are immigrants and they need a place to live and raise their kids.
Its not something you can stop, people tend to move where they can earn their livelihood. Milton is growing fast and that is why more
people are moving here and most of these are from Mississuaga and Brampton

Don't be surprised that you have not received an answer to your question. You have not asked the only people who can give you the right answer.

That would be the Town of Milton at 905 878 7211.

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For Home Inspection services call Andy Shaw at Halton Home Inspection Service. 905 876 4761

And besides that, you actually did receive an answer to your question. Here it is again for your convenience:

I don't think the demand is huge, but, I think a big part of it that there's limited supply of apartment rentals in Milton, and hence, the prices are fairly pricey.

I rented in town for about a year before I bought a place, and, was surprised at the prices I had to pay around here for an apartment. My wife and I had two good incomes going, and we just needed a place for about a year until we could figure out if we wanted to settle into the area or not, so, it wasn't a big deal, but, I know there were other people in the building who were under a lot of financial pressure trying to find affordable accommodation in town. One person in particular I knew had been a long time resident, and just couldn't afford to live around here any further.

Basement apartments to those people can provide a few options, as well as putting some downward pressure on the rates in general.