Property maintenance in Orillia, from curb stops to lead pipes

Chapter 853 of the Municipal Code defines adequate and suitable heat as 20 C, measured 1.5 m above the floor and 1 m from exterior walls, and requires it from September 1 to June 15 wherever the landlord heats the unit or it is normally heated at the landlord's expense. The chapter counts a property manager as the landlord (section 853.1.2), so an officer's order about a cold unit can reach you directly, and each day is a separate offence (section 853.3.4). Chapter 866 sets the same window for the building's heating system (section 866.12.1). The first photo on a no heat job is a thermometer at that height and distance, with the reading and the time in the report. A no heat call inside the window is triaged against your rules: 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. See heating season.

Chapter 866 also keeps buildings free of mould (section 866.10.1) and of rodents, vermin and insects, with extermination done under the Pesticides Act (section 866.10.2). It holds hot water between 43 C and 49 C (section 866.15.2) and stops an owner cutting heat, power, gas or water to an occupied unit beyond the reasonable time a repair needs (section 866.20.1). An owner served with an order has 14 days to appeal to the Property Standards Committee (section 866.36.1), and the City can do the ordered work itself and add the cost to the tax roll (section 866.35.4). A job that answers an order is booked against the order's compliance date, and the closeout photos and report are what you hand to the officer.

Chapter 1019 makes the owner responsible for the water service from the City's curb stop, near the property line, to the building (section 1019.4.4(b)), and lets no one but the City turn water on or off or work a curb stop without the City's written authority (section 1019.7.1(b)). A shutoff at the curb is a City visit, $90 in the December 2025 fee schedule (item 33), so the plumber isolates the unit inside first, and the photos show which valve was closed and that it holds.

A frozen service has its own order of calls. The owner reports it to the City, staff inspect it in working hours to decide whether the ice is on the private or the municipal side, and a contractor who attends first gives up any billing reduction (sections 1019.8.3 and 1019.8.8). On the private side the City bills the owner for the thaw, a $300 deposit and then actual cost plus 15 percent (item 11), and a tap is left running in a steady stream at least 6 mm thick until the City clears the line. So we ask the manager to report the freeze to the City before any outside thaw is booked, and the report records the meter, the valve positions and the running tap. See frozen pipes in a rental.

City policy 9.2.1.1 leaves the lateral from the building to the sanitary sewer to the owner, rodding included, but puts a spot repair or replacement on City land between the sewer and the property line at the City's expense, unless the owner's or tenant's action or negligence caused it. The City's fee schedule lists a camera inspection of a lateral at $319 plus HST, waived when the problem is on City property (item 44). A backed up drain therefore gets a drain contractor's camera run, and the footage and the distance to the fault are attached to the job, because where the fault sits decides who pays.

Lead service lines were common in Orillia until the mid 1970s. Since October 2025 the City's lead service rebate pays 100 percent of eligible private side replacement costs, up to $5,000 per property, mostly in step with a City road project and by special permission outside one. City staff must confirm the pipe is lead on the application before work starts, a building permit and a new City meter package are required, and the itemized invoice must be signed by a licensed plumber and separate eligible from ineligible costs. A lead service quote is written in that format, and the owner or an authorized agent files the application.

A building of six or more units is a commercial water billing account under Chapter 1020, so the owner retains a qualified person to prepare a cross-connection inspection report, repeated within five years and two months (sections 1020.3.1 and 1020.3.5). Where a moderate or severe hazard is found, the backflow device is tested and tagged within 13 months of the last test, and a device that fails is repaired or replaced within five days or the City may shut the water off (sections 1020.6.1 to 1020.6.4). The City keeps a list of qualified persons, and the chapter's schedule of qualified person requirements lists a plumber's licence number, a cross-connection specialist certificate and calibrated test kits, so a backflow job goes to a licensed plumber on that list and the test report is attached to the job. See rental apartment buildings.

The City's 2026 guide to additional dwelling units allows up to three on a lot, four homes in all, with the first two exempt from City development charges and parkland dedication. A unit on private septic is not allowed where the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan bars the new or expanded system it would need within 100 m of the shoreline. A basement suite repair is checked against what the permit allowed, and the closeout photos show the separation between units, the alarms and the entrance. See basement and secondary suites.

Chapter 730 requires a City licence to operate or advertise a rental of fewer than 28 consecutive days. It caps licences at 150 a year, only the owner can hold one, and a responsible person must be able to attend the unit within an hour (sections 730.4.5, 730.4.8 and 730.4.16). A unit rented short term needs a 2A 10B:C extinguisher in the indoor cooking area (section 730.4.21), so a turnover there photographs the extinguisher and its gauge.

The City's housing assessment records demand for more on and off campus student housing. Georgian College announced in September 2025 that its Orillia campus would close in summer 2026, with programs moving to Barrie and the campus and residence planned for sale. Lakehead's Orillia campus lists local rentals through an off campus housing service that says it does not inspect units, so a landlord's own dated before and after photos carry the weight at a student let. See student housing.

Orillia sits between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching, but the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority says its jurisdiction takes in the Lake Simcoe watershed with the exception of the City of Orillia. Inside the city the shoreline permit comes from elsewhere. Parks Canada manages lakes Simcoe and Couchiching as part of the Trent-Severn Waterway and requires a permit for all work on, under and over the bed and waters of the waterway's lakes and rivers, docks, repairs and shoreline stabilization included. The City adds a site alteration permit for placing, moving or removing more than 50 cubic metres of fill. A waterfront dock, wall or regrade job is checked against both before a quote goes out.

From November 15 to April 15, Traffic and Parking By-law 2007-55 bans parking on a street or municipal lot from midnight to 7 a.m. (section 11), and the City's parking page says vehicles may be ticketed and towed. The exemptions are for authorized emergency vehicles and permit holders in designated lots, and the by-law names none for trade vehicles, though its definition of parking leaves out standing temporarily while loading or unloading merchandise (section 1). A night emergency that will run for hours lists the driveway in its access notes.

These rules apply inside the City of Orillia. A job in a township next door, Oro-Medonte for one, is read against that township's by-laws.

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 an Orillia job, request work.