Property maintenance in Barrie, from registered suites to year round heat

By-law 2020-010 sends notice of a registered unit to emergency services, the utilities and the Electrical Safety Authority, and lets the Registrar revoke the registration if the unit stops meeting the Building Code, the Fire Code, zoning or property standards. A repair in a Barrie basement suite is scoped to leave the door, the fire separation and the alarms as inspected, and the closeout photos show each one.

The carbon monoxide rules changed on January 1, 2026: a suite directly above, below or beside a service room with a fuel-burning appliance needs an alarm next to each sleeping area and on every storey. When we replace a furnace or water heater in that kind of house, the alarm positions are photographed and tested. Barrie Fire tells landlords to test the alarms whenever they are in a unit for a leaking pipe and to log it, so the test and its photo go on every visit record. A visit that is not an emergency is booked on the 24 hour entry notice.

Adding a suite in 2026? The City cuts building permit application fees for new ARUs by 50 percent on applications received by December 31, 2026, and the County's Secondary Suites Program pays up to $50,000 per unit. Its 2025 to 2026 FAQ puts heat, hydro and water in the rent and requires a qualified electrician for all electrical work. See basement and secondary suites.

A Barrie rooming house licence needs a heating system certificate and an electrical system certificate, each current within five years, plus a 24 hour contact for the premises. A tenant room with a lock that keeps the others out, or a fifth tenant, makes a house a rooming house. Near Georgian College, the City's Town and Gown Committee works on the accountability of students and landlords to their neighbours.

A request to fit a bedroom lock goes to the property manager before it is booked, because it can change the licence status. The certificates are inspections done by a licensed contractor, and their dates go on the property record so the five year mark shows before it arrives. See student housing.

Property Standards By-law 2011-138 wants basement walls and floors kept free of dampness (section 20.1), a floor drain at the lowest point of a basement with a stair (section 29.1), and sump pump discharge kept off sidewalks, streets, stairs and a neighbour's lot (section 7.2). Barrie also pays owners to take sumps, foundation drains and downspouts off the sanitary sewer, and Disconnect to Protect pays nothing for work that starts before a City staff visit. So a wet basement call ends with a report of where the sump discharges and where the foundation drain runs, and the owner books the City's visit before the work is approved.

A sewer backup follows the City's own steps: plumber, Ontario One Call, then a camera inspection. The camera file is attached to the job, because the City reviews a copy before it reimburses a failure on its side.

Before an exterior dig or regrade, the lot is checked against the conservation authority mapping for the Lake Simcoe and Nottawasaga Valley authorities. LSRCA lists site grading and moving material among the work that needs its permission in a regulated area. See basement apartment waterproofing.

Barrie's heat rule has no dates, so a no heat call in July is triaged like one in January: Plumbing, electrical, major appliance and heating or cooling failures, lockouts, and a door that will not lock. Anything else is booked the next business day.

For a water shut-off, Water Operations at 705-792-7920 closes the supply at the curb stop, and the 2026 fee schedule charges $125.54 for a water off or on visit and the same for a missed appointment or plumbing that is not ready. The internal valve belongs to the owner, so the plumber tests it first and the City operator is booked only for work that is staged.

The City's water comes from deep groundwater or from Kempenfelt Bay depending on the zone, and it puts groundwater hardness at 13 to 20 grains per gallon against 3 to 8 on surface water. A scaled tank or fixture is noted against its supply zone.

From December 1 to March 31, By-law 2007-209 bans parking on a street from 12:01 to 7 am, and from 3 to 6 am in the Downtown Business Improvement Area. A winter night dispatch tells the trade to use the driveway or a visitor space.

These rules apply inside the City of Barrie. Midhurst (Springwater), Angus (Essa) and Oro-Medonte are served from Barrie, but Springwater, Essa and Oro-Medonte are separate townships, so a job there is read against that township's by-laws, not these.

Plumbing is done by licensed plumbers and drain work by licensed drain contractors. Gas work is done by TSSA registered contractors. We only use ECRA/ESA-Licensed Electrical Contractors. Pest control is done by licensed exterminators.

To send a Barrie job, request work.