Parking Requirements Before You Buy or Re-tenant a Commercial Unit in Ontario: Minimums, Exemptions and Variances

Two units can sit in identical-looking plazas and get opposite parking answers for the same new tenant. The difference is which of four situations each unit is in, and you can sort that out before you sign.

I’m Arthur Zhao, a real estate broker in Toronto.

Picture a buyer who has narrowed a search down to two commercial units. Similar size, similar price, both with a medical tenant lined up to take over from a retailer. One sits a short walk from a rapid transit station; the other is in a suburban plaza in a different municipality. It is natural to assume the parking question is the same for both, because the new tenant is the same.

It isn’t. Parking for a commercial use in Ontario is decided by where the lot sits in the planning system, not by how the storefront looks. The provincial Planning Act sets the outer limits, each municipality fills in its own numbers, and the history of the building can freeze some things in place. Put those together and almost every unit lands in one of four situations.

This article walks through each one: what happens to parking when the use changes, and what the way forward is. Work out which one your unit is in before the agreement is firm, or before you sign a lease with a tenant whose use differs from the last one.

Why parking belongs on the checklist at all

Under paragraph 6 of section 34(1) of the Planning Act, a municipal zoning by-law can require the owners or occupants of buildings used for a purpose named in the by-law to provide and maintain loading or parking facilities on land that is not part of a highway. That wording matters twice. Requirements attach to a use, so a new tenant in a different use category can face a different number. And the duty is to maintain the parking, not just build it once.

That is the general power. What it means for your unit depends on which of the situations below applies.

Situation 1: the unit is inside a protected major transit station area

Since 2024 (Planning Act s. 34(1.1), added by 2024, c. 16, Sched. 12), a zoning by-law may not require an owner or occupant to provide and maintain parking, other than bicycle parking, on land located within any of these:

• a protected major transit station area identified in the official plan under s. 16(15) or (16);
• an area the official plan delineates around an existing or planned higher order transit station or stop, with a minimum residents-and-jobs-per-hectare target, but only where that policy is required to conform with a provincial plan or be consistent with a provincial policy statement;
• any other area prescribed by regulation.

Section 34(1.2) adds the enforcement teeth: a by-law provision is of no effect to the extent it contravenes that restriction.

What happens on a change of use: the new use cannot be held up by a car-parking minimum, because zoning cannot impose one there.

What to watch: the test is the boundary drawn in the official plan, not the distance you can walk. A unit near a station but outside the mapped area is not covered. Bicycle parking can still be required. And the restriction is about what zoning may require; whether an older city rule saying existing spaces cannot be reduced still bites inside these areas is a question to put to the zoning examiner, not something I would assume either way.

Situation 2: the unit is in Toronto under By-law 569-2013, and the new use has only a maximum

Toronto rewrote its city-wide parking table in By-law 89-2022, adopted by City Council on December 15, 16 and 17, 2021. In the new Table 200.5.10.1, the Tier 4 group, which includes Retail Store, Retail Service, Personal Service Shop, Eating Establishment and Medical Office, has a maximum rate and no minimum. Office (excluding medical office) sits in Tier 2, also maximum-only. The same by-law added regulation 200.5.10.1(7)(C): if a minimum is not specified for a use, no parking spaces are required.

So in this situation a shop-to-clinic or shop-to-restaurant switch does not, by itself, create a car-parking minimum to meet. Three things still need checking:

• Accessible parking. By-law 223-2025 replaced 200.5.10.1(7)(C) so that it now reads “no parking spaces, other than accessible parking spaces, are required.” Ask the City how the accessible-parking rules in Section 200.15 apply to your building.
• Existing spaces. As enacted by By-law 89-2022, regulation 200.5.10.11(1)(C) says the number of lawful parking spaces for a lawfully existing building may not be reduced. By-law 223-2025 did not replace that clause; it added a narrow exception allowing two side-by-side lawful spaces to be combined into one compliant accessible space. Revised wording has also been proposed in 2025 committee material, so read the current office consolidation rather than relying on the 2022 text.
• Coverage. 569-2013 does not necessarily apply to every lot in the city; some lots still fall under a former municipal by-law. Confirm which zoning by-law governs your lot first.

Situation 3: the municipality’s by-law still sets a minimum for the new use

Outside protected transit areas, and outside Toronto’s maximum-only categories, many zoning by-laws still set minimum parking for commercial uses, and the numbers and use definitions vary widely from one municipality to the next. A restaurant, a clinic and a shop can each carry a different ratio in the same plaza. The only reliable source is the current by-law for that municipality, plus a zoning inquiry to its zoning or building department.

What happens on a change of use: if the new use needs more spaces than the lot can show, the use may not comply as of right.

The ways forward the Planning Act provides:

• Provide the spaces on land that is not part of a highway, if the site or a nearby arrangement allows.
• A section 40 agreement. Council and the owner or occupant may agree to exempt them, to the extent set out in the agreement, from providing or maintaining the spaces. The agreement must require payment to the municipality and state how the payment is calculated. It can be registered on title, and amounts that have come due then carry priority lien status.
• A section 45 minor variance. The committee of adjustment may authorize a minor variance if it is desirable for the appropriate development or use of the land and the general intent and purpose of the by-law and official plan are maintained, and it must also meet any prescribed or municipal criteria.

Each of these takes time and money, and none is guaranteed. That is why the answer needs to be known before the deal or lease is unconditional.

Situation 4: the unit already has fewer spaces than today’s rules would require

Many older plazas were built under earlier standards. Section 34(9)(a) of the Planning Act says a zoning by-law does not prevent the use of land or a building for a purpose it was lawfully used for on the day the by-law was passed, “so long as it continues to be used for that purpose.” The protection follows the existing use. Section 34(10) works the same way: a by-law can be amended to allow an extension or enlargement only if the property continues to be used in the same manner and for the same purpose.

What happens on a change of use: the new use no longer rides on the old use’s protection. Whether the existing shortfall then becomes a problem depends on how the local by-law treats lawfully existing buildings.

Toronto is one example of a by-law that addresses this directly. As enacted by By-law 89-2022, regulation 200.5.10.11(1)(A) treats the lawful number of spaces at a lawfully existing building as its minimum when that number is below the required number. By-law 89-2022 defines “lawful” for this clause to include buildings, structures or uses authorized or permitted on or before February 3, 2022. Under 200.5.10.11(2), an addition or extension must provide any additional spaces required, up to the maximum, unless a section 45 minor variance authorizes otherwise.

Other municipalities handle existing shortfalls in their own ways. Before you rely on “the plaza has always been this way,” get the municipality to confirm in writing how the change of use is treated.

Before you firm up the purchase or sign the new tenant

Work through these in order: map first, then the by-law, then the building’s history, then the paperwork.