Windows for registered basement units and rental licensing in Brampton

Where basement units stand in Brampton

Since May 2023, the City has allowed up to three units on a property: the main house, one attached second unit, and either a garden suite or an attached third unit. In the City's words, these units "must be registered with the City of Brampton". The City calls them Additional Residential Units. What most people call a legal basement is a registered second unit.

Registration runs through the Building Division, with a registration fee, a permit fee and drawings that show the unit's entrance and its egress and exit windows. Current fees and steps are on the City's two-unit registration page, and the rules for every unit type are on the Additional Residential Units page.

This guide is for the whole household: the owner planning a unit, the owner-landlord upstairs, the tenant checking before signing, and the son or daughter sorting it out for a parent. The City has the final word.

Words you'll see on the City's pages

• Additional Residential Unit (ARU): the umbrella term for second units, third units and garden suites.
• Second unit: a separate unit in or attached to the house, most often in the basement.
• Two-unit dwelling: a house with a registered second unit, the "legal basement" in everyday speech.
• Registry: the City's record of registered units, shown on its interactive map.
• Egress window: a bedroom window large enough, and low enough, to be a way out.
• Escape window: the City's term for its fallback egress option, allowed only where zoning rules out the others.
• Rental licence: the City's licence for landlords renting one to four units on a property.

Bedrooms need light and a way out

Window area for basement bedrooms

The City's Basement Finish Package sets a minimum window area for a basement bedroom, tied to the size of the room, and the minimum is stricter in a recently built house. A basement recreation room needs no window, which is one reason a windowless room can't simply be called a bedroom later.

Egress window basics

The Ontario Building Code's rule, in plain words: unless the bedroom has a door on the same level that leads straight outside, it needs at least one window that

• opens from the inside without tools,
• stays open by itself, without being propped,
• gives a clear opening big enough overall, and wide and tall enough, for a person to climb through,
• has its sill low enough above the floor to climb over, and
• where it opens into a window well, leaves enough clear space in the well to get out.

The Code itself holds the numbers, and every new permit application now follows the 2024 edition. Your designer shows the window on the drawings, and the City reviews it.

Style matters as much as frame size. Only one half of a slider moves, so it needs a bigger frame to give the same clear opening as a casement that swings fully open. That's why many basement bedrooms end up with casements, and why an existing opening often has to grow. Basement and egress windows covers the work itself: cutting, the well and the window. Not every basement window needs to be an egress window; a small awning window can ventilate the unit's bathroom or kitchen.

The City's egress options for two-unit houses

The City's two-unit registration guide asks the drawings to decide which egress option applies, show the second unit's entrance and its egress and exit windows on the elevations, and give construction details for the egress and escape windows. Of its lettered options, the escape window is a compliance alternative, available only where zoning rules out the first two. Your designer chooses the option, and the window work follows. The guide dates from 2020, so check the City's registration page for the current submission list.

Cutting or enlarging openings: the openings permit

A bigger or new window opening changes the structure of the wall, and needs a building permit. The new or enlarged openings package asks for a site plan based on a legal survey, elevations showing the cladding, details of the lintel and the structure above the opening, and for a new door, the sill height, landing and stair direction. There's a permit fee, with an added charge for each opening beyond the first two.

In a condo townhouse, work on a common element needs a Notice of Permission to Construct signed by the condominium corporation.

A same-size window swap is different. The City's list of work that doesn't need a permit doesn't mention windows either way, so it usually doesn't need one, but confirm with the Building Division before ordering. If a general contractor is building out the unit, the contractors page explains how a glass pro can take on the window part.

Separate entrances and below-grade entrance permits

A new entrance below ground level has its own below-grade entrance permit package. In a single-unit house, the owner declares that it won't be the way out of an additional unit. In a two-unit registration, the second unit's entrance appears on the registration drawings, so ask the Building Division which application covers yours. For a door that seals and locks well at the bottom of snowy stairs, see entry doors.

Renting it out: city-wide rental licensing from January 2026

Brampton's Residential Rental Licensing program covers properties with one to four rental units. It began in five wards and went city-wide on 1 January 2026. According to the City's announcement, the licence is free, landlords complete an online module and carry the liability insurance the City sets, and renting without a licence can lead to fines.

The pages we reviewed don't say what a licensing inspection checks, so we won't guess. If you look after several units, the property managers page explains how we match pros for repeat work.

Renting a basement unit? Check the registry first

The City's Additional Residential Units page links an interactive map of registered units. Look up the address before you sign a lease. A registered unit has been through the City's permit and inspection process, bedroom windows included. If it isn't on the map, ask the landlord, and the Building Division can explain what registration involves.

Building for a parent or relative? The multigenerational renovation tax credit

For the 2025 tax year, the federal Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit applies when a renovation creates a self-contained secondary unit so a senior, or an adult eligible for the disability tax credit, can live with a qualifying relative. As we read the CRA page, window work counts only as part of such a project. Ask your tax preparer before counting on it.

Who to ask: Building Division or licensing?

A step-by-step checklist before you call a pro

1. Read the rules for your unit type and look up the address on the registry map.
2. Walk each room you plan to use as a bedroom. Note the window, its style and how high the sill sits.
3. Have a designer prepare the registration drawings, including the egress option and window details.
4. If an opening changes, apply for the openings permit; for a new door below grade, the entrance permit.
5. Get a written, itemized quote naming each window, the cutting and well work, and who arranges which permit.
6. Plan the day around the household: who's home, where the pro will cut, and how dust stays out of upstairs.
7. If the unit will be rented, sort out the rental licence before a tenant moves in.

When you're ready, send your floor plan and a photo of each window. We're a free referral service, not the City and not a government program: we pass your request to an independent local pro who does basement window work, and they quote it in writing. More guides are in Resources.