Toronto will hand you the blueprints: pre-approved garden and laneway suite plans
The City now offers free, pre-reviewed designs for backyard and laneway homes — you reference a plan number instead of paying for custom drawings. Here's how the program works, and what to check before you build (or buy next to one).
Toronto wants more homes in backyards and along laneways — enough that the City now gives away the architecture. Its "Made in Toronto" pre-approved plans are free designs for garden and laneway suites that Toronto Building has already reviewed against the Ontario Building Code and the zoning by-law. Use one, and you skip a chunk of the design cost and review time that used to make these projects slow and expensive.
With garden and laneway suites now permitted as-of-right in most residential zones, the pre-approved plans remove one of the last big frictions. Here's what the program actually offers.
What's in the catalogue
The City published four designs, each in studio and two-bedroom versions for both garden suites and laneway suites, and each with a choice of heat pump or forced-air HVAC. The plans were last updated August 5, 2025.
The clever part: you don't submit the drawings at all. You reference the plan number on your building permit application and upload only a site plan showing where the building sits on your lot.
You still need a permit
Pre-approved doesn't mean permit-free. The building design is pre-reviewed, but the City still checks everything about your property:
- Siting and setbacks — laneway suites need a 1-metre rear setback; garden suites need 1.5 metres, plus at least 4 metres of separation from the main house.
- Fire access — the default route works up to 45 metres from the street to the suite's entry. Between 45 and 90 metres, you'll need extras like a sprinkler, an exterior strobe, and interconnected alarms.
- Trees, grading, and servicing — a lot grading plan, a tree declaration, and plumbing routing all get reviewed per-property.
One caveat: change anything on a pre-approved plan — even the HVAC or plumbing — and it's no longer pre-approved. You're back in the standard review stream.
Permit fees for residential construction run $18.56 per square metre as of January 1, 2026, and eligible rear-yard suites can defer development charges under the City's DC Deferral Program.
Why this matters even if you're not building
Every garden or laneway suite leaves a public trail. If you're buying a house, a suite permit on the record tells you whether that backyard building was City-reviewed — or whether the "bonus unit" in the listing was never permitted at all. If you're a neighbour, a new suite next door won't come with a hearing or a notice: as-of-right means the first sign is often a permit appearing on the address.
You can check either case yourself. Pull the permit history for any address to see suite applications and their status, scan nearby activity to spot suites going up around you, and monitor an address to get an email when a new permit lands.
The bottom line
A custom laneway suite design can cost tens of thousands of dollars before a shovel hits dirt. Toronto is now offering the drawings for free and skipping the design review — a clear signal the City wants these built. The full catalogue and application details are on the City's pre-approved plans page.