Severing a Lot in Ontario: The Complete Guide to Consent to Sever
Arthur Zhao · AZ Real Estate Partners
How do you legally split one lot into two or more in Ontario? You must apply for and obtain a Consent from your municipality’s Committee of Adjustment or land division committee under section 53 of the Planning Act. According to Ontario.ca’s Citizen’s Guide to Land Use Planning (2024), a land severance is “the authorized separation of a piece of land to form a new lot or parcel of land,” and a consent is generally required whenever you want to sell, mortgage, or enter an agreement longer than 21 years for a portion of your land — unless the land is already divided by public roads or railways. Where several severances are planned in the same area, the approval authority may instead require the more involved plan of subdivision route.
ℹ️ Note
Consent or Plan of Subdivision? That is the first fork in the road. According to Ontario.ca (2024), when you are creating only a few lots, you take the faster, lower-cost consent route. But when the same area is being divided into many lots requiring new roads, municipal services, and supporting infrastructure, the approval authority will decide that a plan of subdivision is more appropriate — a longer, costlier, more heavily scrutinized process. Which path applies is decided by the authority based on “the proper and orderly development of your community,” not by the applicant. Rule of thumb: a handful of lots goes by consent; large-scale division goes by subdivision — but the municipality has the final say.
Ontario has no single “severance office.” According to Ontario.ca (2024), the approving body may be an upper-, lower-, or single-tier council, a committee of council, an appointed officer, a land division committee, a municipal planning authority, a committee of adjustment, or — in parts of Northern Ontario where planning is not delegated — the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. In the GTA it is usually your municipality’s Committee of Adjustment. Confirm who has jurisdiction with your municipal clerk or nearest Municipal Services Office, then meet with planning staff before filing. This surfaces zoning, lot-size, and frontage problems early.
Complete the consent application form from the approval authority and include all prescribed information and supporting materials (sketches, plans, surveys). Key point: according to Ontario.ca (2024), the 90-day decision clock starts only “until all the required information is received” — a single missing item keeps the clock from starting. In GTA practice, a complete application typically also needs a licensed surveyor’s sketch, a planning rationale, and sometimes tree-protection or grading reports.
According to Ontario.ca (2024), the authority must give notice at least 14 days before a decision, by newspaper, mail, posted notice, or the municipality’s website. Neighbours and interested parties can submit comments or objections during this window. This is where severance applications most often stumble — neighbour concerns about privacy, light, and neighbourhood character feed directly into the committee’s judgment.
According to Ontario.ca (2024), the authority must issue a notice of decision within 90 days of receiving a complete application. It evaluates conformity with the Official Plan and compatibility with neighbouring uses, whether lot size and shape suit the proposed use, the adequacy of vehicular access, water supply, and sewage disposal, flood risk, and consistency with the Provincial Planning Statement and provincial plans. The decision is usually a provisional consent with conditions.
According to Ontario.ca (2024), provisional consent commonly carries conditions such as road widenings, parkland dedication (or cash-in-lieu), rezoning or a minor variance to meet lot dimensions, and agreements for future municipal services. Severance conditions must be met within two years or the consent lapses; once satisfied, the authority issues the consent certificate. Note: satisfying conditions usually means real out-of-pocket cost — do not budget the application fee alone.
According to Ontario.ca (2024), key participants — applicants, the Province, public bodies, First Nations, and utility providers — may appeal the decision or any condition to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) (or a local appeal body, if established) within 20 days of the notice of decision; an applicant may also appeal if no decision is made within 90 days. Only after all conditions are met, the certificate is issued, and the new lot’s legal description is finalized is the severance complete — the new parcel can then be sold, mortgaged, and transferred independently.
Fees vary by municipality and change yearly by by-law, so what follows is order-of-magnitude, not a quote. The municipal application fee alone for a residential consent commonly runs into the low thousands of dollars across GTA municipalities (per 2025–2026 fee schedules on the Committee of Adjustment pages for Toronto, Markham, and Richmond Hill). But the application fee is only the tip of the iceberg — layer on surveyor fees, planning-consultant fees, legal fees, parkland cash-in-lieu, road-widening dedications, municipal-service agreements, development charges, and reassessed property taxes on the new lot. Total all-in cost can far exceed the application fee.
- Application fee: use your municipality’s current published fee schedule — check it live, never copy a number from elsewhere.
- Timeline: the statutory 90-day decision plus a 20-day appeal window is the smooth case; in reality, from consult to certificate with all conditions met often takes several months to over a year.
- Condition costs: parkland, road dedications, and service agreements are the most commonly underestimated expenses.
For owners: a successful severance turns one large lot into two independently sellable or developable parcels, unlocking meaningful value — especially in a land-scarce market like the GTA. But that value is not free; it carries approval uncertainty, neighbour opposition, condition costs within the two-year window, and the risk of a cost jump if the application is bumped to the subdivision route. For buyers: if you are buying land that is “already consented” or “said to be severable,” you must verify the true severance status — is it an unconditional consent or a conditional provisional one? Have all conditions been satisfied? Has the certificate been issued? Under the long-standing “once a consent, always a consent” principle, an unconditional consent for the identical parcel remains valid indefinitely, but a conditional consent may carry limitations or may have lapsed — a critical difference. Have your lawyer verify title and severance documents before closing; do not rely on the seller’s word.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I have to go through the Committee of Adjustment? Can I just split the lot myself?
No, you cannot split it yourself. According to Ontario.ca (2024), under Planning Act s.53 any division that forms a new lot requires a consent from the approval authority — in most of the GTA, your municipality’s Committee of Adjustment. The only exception is land already divided by public roads or railways. Dealing with part of your land without authorization can void the transaction or create a title defect.
Q: What is the difference between a consent and a plan of subdivision, and which do I need?
According to Ontario.ca (2024), a small number of lots (typically one to three) usually goes by the faster consent route; when the same area is divided into many lots needing new roads, services, and infrastructure, the authority often decides a plan of subdivision is more appropriate — a longer, costlier process. The authority decides based on orderly community development; it is not the applicant’s choice.
Q: How long does a severance take, and how much does it cost?
According to Ontario.ca (2024), the statutory decision period is 90 days from a complete application, followed by a 20-day appeal window — that is the smooth case. In reality, from pre-consult to satisfying all conditions and receiving the certificate often takes several months to over a year. Costs vary by municipality and year; the application fee alone commonly runs into the low thousands, plus surveyor, planning, legal, parkland, and road-dedication costs. Always check your municipality’s current fee schedule rather than relying on a fixed figure.
Q: Once the committee approves, am I done?
No. According to Ontario.ca (2024), the committee usually grants a provisional consent with conditions that you must satisfy within two years (parkland cash-in-lieu, road dedications, rezoning, and so on) or the consent lapses. Only after conditions are met, the certificate is issued, and the new lot’s legal description is finalized does the severance take effect and the parcel become independently sellable and transferable.
Q: I want to buy a lot that is "severable" — what should I watch for?
Verify the true severance status. Distinguish an unconditional consent from a conditional provisional one, confirm whether all conditions are satisfied, and check whether the certificate has been issued. Under the “once a consent, always a consent” principle, an unconditional consent for the identical parcel stays valid indefinitely, but a conditional consent may carry limitations or may have lapsed. Have your lawyer verify title and severance documents before closing rather than relying on the seller’s word.
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