ONTARIO BUILDING CODE STANDARD PRACTICE

ONTARIO BUILDING CODE STANDARD PRACTICE Dormant & Incomplete Building Permit Files Building Services Division 32 Mill Street Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0 Tel.:(519) 599-3131, ext. 239 Toll Free; 1-888-258-6867 Fax: (519) 599-7723 build@thebluemountains.ca www.thebluemountains.ca Date Issued: June 18, 2010 Standard Practice No.: SP.OBC.10.03 Date Effective: June 18, 2010 OBC Ref.: s. 1.1. (c) BCA Date Revised: Issued By: Chief Building Official Purpose This standard practice applies to all building permits with a status of Issued, Issued Construction Started or Finalled within 10 years of the date of permit issuance. Building permits with a status of closed, OBC Complete, revoked or cancelled are not included. To establish policy and practice for maintaining building permit files To exercise a reasonable standard of care in the duties of enforcing the Ontario Building Code (OC). To minimize the risk of health and safety to the public and to discharge the duty of care onto the permit holder. To prevent the accumulation and resulting liability from dormant files. To identify required inspections that have not been completed or are outstanding and the necessary action for compliance. To revoke a building permit where construction has not started in the timeframes permitted by regulation. To implement a protocol for identifying a permit holder s responsibility to provide timely notice and to facilitate inspection. Definitions Dormant means that a building inspection has not been completed at least one year from the last building inspection on record. Issued - Construction Started means the status given to a building permit that has been issued and a footing inspection has been completed with a satisfactory result. Incomplete means the status given to a building permit that is substantially completed and notification was not provided to the Chief Building Official as required under 1.3.3.3.(1) of the OBC for occupancy of the building. OBC Complete means all required building inspections have been completed with no known OBC deficiencies noted and a letter of certification for the grading remains outstanding. Standard Practice Compliance Letter Requests

When a request for compliance has been received to research a property and provide a status of building permit(s) with a status of Incomplete; the compliance letter will include the following: A Certificate of Occupancy has not been issued for the following permit(s); PRDW####, 123 Street Name. According to our records, construction as authorized under building permit no. PRDW### is incomplete. To update the incomplete status a building inspection is required and can be requested at (519) 599-3131 ext. 239. Please note that for building permits deemed incomplete, a $100 fee is required prior to the building inspection Building Permits: Permit Status Inspections 1. A general site inspection is scheduled in City View when a building inspection has not been completed for at least one year from the date of the last inspection on record. 2. The building permit file will be reviewed by the Permits & Inspection Assistant and an attempt will be made to contact the permit holder by telephone or email of record in order to obtain the status of the related construction and to schedule the necessary building inspection(s). 3. Where an attempt has been made by the Permits & Inspection Assistant to contact the permit holder and no response has been received within 10 business days, a general site inspection will be scheduled in City View for the next business day or where the volume of workload allows. 4. Subsequent to the attending the site in question and has determined that the status of construction cannot be confirmed, the dormant building permit file process will commence, due to the following reasons: Access was not available to the property or building in question. The owner or permit holder refused to schedule a building inspection. Building & Occupancy Permits An Occupancy Permit is issued where the building inspector has confirmed that the minimum requirements of 1.3.3.1 or 1.3.3.2., Division A of the OBC have been satisfied. Other outstanding OBC related items are noted and are to be completed at such time by the owner. Frequently, outstanding items prohibit the building permit file from being closed. It is the responsibility of the owner to request a follow up inspection. The building permit file will become dormant if no building permit inspection requests are received at least one year from the Occupancy Permit date. Page2 of 6

The Permit & Inspections Assistant will initiate the dormant building permit file process at that time. Finalled Status: Building Permits All required building inspections have been completed and no building code items have been noted to be outstanding and the building permit is considered complete for OBC purposes. The Town s Fill By-law requires a $3,000 grading security cannot be issued until an Occupancy Permit has been issued. A building permit file with the status of FINALLED indicates that a letter of certification for grading is all that remains in order to close the building permit file. Once the certification letter is received and is satisfactory to the Engineering & Public Works Department; the Permits & Inspection Assistant initiates the return of the grading securities and closes the building permit file with an administrative clean- up of the City View file and the status is changed to closed. Where the letter of certification has not been received at least one year from the FINALLED status, the Permit & Inspections Assistant will initiate the dormant building permit file process. Closed Status: Building Permits Permit files with a CLOSED status will remain within the Building Services Division for a period of 2 years from the date the file is closed. The Permits & Inspection Assistant will initiate the transfer of the building permit file to the Records Manager for records retention. Dormant Building Permit File Status Procedures 1. Where a building permit file has no record of inspections from at least one year from the last building inspection on record, the Permits & Inspection Assistant will add the activity Dormant Permit in City View. This activity will automatically enter a required date of 5 business days to be completed. 2. The Permits & Inspection Assistant will attempt to contact the owner or building permit holder by telephone or email to confirm the status of construction and schedule the required inspection(s). 3. Where attempts have been made to contact the owner or permit holder and is unsuccessful, the Permits & Inspection Assistant will add the activity General Site Visit in City View for the corresponding building permit file. This activity will automatically enter a required date of 2 business days to be completed. 4. A will attend the site to determine the status of the building permit and will remain on their to-do list until the activity is completed. 5. The will determine if further action is required and will confirm that: a. The construction is active; or b. Where an unsafe condition may exist such as an OBC item related to life safety such as non-compliant guards, handrails, etc., are confirmed to be incomplete. Page3 of 6

6. If the determines that the construction is active, written notice shall be provided to the owner of the building permit file as to the status and the next required building inspection or a copy of the building inspection report listing outstanding items to be completed within a specific timeframe. 7. The will enter an attempt result of Construction Active for the General Site Visit activity in City View. The time frame for determination of a dormant building permit file will reset to at least one year upon a satisfactory inspection result. 8. Where a determines that previously noted deficiencies have not been corrected or that a dwelling has been occupied without proper notice, the building permit file will be deemed to be Incomplete. 9. The will enter an attempt result of Incomplete for the General Site Visit activity in City View. Further action to be taken as described under Incomplete Building Permit Status. 10. If the is unable to confirm the status of construction, or that previous deficiencies noted cannot be confirmed to have been completed, the will enter an attempt result of Incomplete Permit. 11. City View will automatically add the Incomplete Permit activity and assign to the Permits & Inspection Assistant with a required date of 5 business days from attempt result. 12. The Permits & Inspections Assistant will send out the first written notice entitled Notice of Incomplete Building Permit. The owner or building permit holder will have 90 calendar days to respond to avoid the dormant building permit fee charge of $100.00 or as updated from time in the in the Building By-law. 13. The Permits & Inspection Assistant will enter the attempt result First Notice Sent under the activity noted in step 5. City View will automatically change the status to Dormant 90 days from the date of the attempt result. 14. The Permits & Inspection Assistant will enter an outstanding fee amount of $100.00 in City View and will be made payable by the owner or building permit holder prior to attending to further building inspections. 15. The Permits & Inspection Assistant will prepare the dormant building permit file and related documents and forward to the Records Manager for file retention. 16. Where the owner or building permit holder requests the required building inspection within the 90 day timeframe, the Permits & Inspection Assistant will schedule the inspection as normal procedure. 17. The time frame for determination of a dormant building permit file will reset to at least one year upon a satisfactory inspection result. Incomplete Building Permit File Status Procedures Page4 of 6

1. Where a building permit file has been deemed to be Incomplete, the Permits & Inspection Assistant will enter an outstanding fee amount of $100.00 in City View and change the building permit file status to Incomplete. 2. The Permits & Inspection Assistant will add the activity Incomplete Permit and will enter the attempt result First Notice Sent. City View will automatically input a required date to 10 business days from the completed attempt result. 3. The Permits & Inspections Assistant will send out the first written notice entitled Notice of Incomplete Building Permit by registered mail. The owner or building permit holder will have 10 business days to respond. 4. Once the allowable time has expired and no response has been received, the By-law Clerk will create a Building Code Violation file under the By-law Enforcement binder in City View. 5. The By-law Enforcement file will be assigned to the Municipal Law Enforcement Officer for further action under the Building Code Act. Exclusions Nil. References and Related Policies The Ontario Building Code Review Cycle This policy will be reviewed annually by the Chief Building Official. TOWN OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS Greg Miller, C.E.T., CBCO Chief Building Official Tel: (519) 599-3131 ext. 261 Toll Free: 1-888-258-6867 CBO@thebluemountains.ca Page5 of 6

INCOMPLETE BUILDING PERMIT PROCESS City View flags permit file Adds the Dormant Permit Activity to the P&I list 12 mo. from last inspection Dormant File Process Initiated P&I Assistant 5 Business Days to initiate process General Site Visit Scheduled Determine Const. Status P&I Assistant 1 st attempt to contact owner Required Inspection Scheduled Site Inspection Attends site to determine status of bp file. Enters Result Incomplete Permit NO Status Determin ed? YES Enters Result Construction Active P&I Assistant Sends out 1 st Notice Notice of Incomplete Building Permit OBC Deficiencies Completed? Enters Result Permit Complete 90 Day Notice 10 Day Notice Deficiencies Complete Final Review Satisfactory $100 Administrative Payable Notice Given prior to Occupancy? General Site Inspection Result Incomplete Building Permit DORMANT Building Permit INCOMPLETE Building Permit CLOSED Page6 of 6