Property maintenance in Wasaga Beach, from converted cottages to basement suites

Building Maintenance By-law 2024-41 prints no temperature. Section 5.7.1 asks for a heating system able to hold the Residential Tenancies Act figure in every habitable room, measured within 1.5 m of the floor, in the winter months, and the Landlord and Tenant Board states that figure as 20 C from September 1 to June 15. Section 3.2.9 leaves bathrooms, halls, laundry rooms and basement recreation rooms out of "habitable", so the reading that counts is taken in the bedroom or living room that runs coldest. A no heat call goes in as an emergency. The first photo is a thermometer at 1.5 m with the reading and the time, next to the thermostat setting, and the report keeps both. The same by-law caps hot water at 60 C at the fixtures (section 5.6.1), so a scalding tap is logged with the reading at the tap and the setting on the heater.

Schedule A of that by-law counts mould, or any condition that may cause it, as a failure of good repair. A mould call is written up with the moisture source first, the surface second. See mould in a rental.

A 2017 market study for the Town counted 114 motel and cottage properties with 1,047 rooms in 2016, 53 of them seasonal, and noted that many seasonal properties are let as housing in the off peak months, with extensive wear. By-law 2026-08, in force since March 1, 2026, licenses any rental of 30 consecutive days or less, and puts rental cabins and cottages in Class C. The licence expires every April 1, cannot be transferred, and is void when the property is sold (sections 5.1 and 5.3). Schedule A adds a property standards inspection and a fire safety inspection to every new application and every renewal. The Town publishes both checklists on its short term accommodation page. The property standards checklist runs from foundations, roofs and stairs to heating, plumbing and door locks, and the fire checklist covers exits, electrical panel access, space heater clearance and extinguishers. Send those with the job and the inspection photographs each line they name, with every item that would fail quoted from site. It is a dated photo record, not a Fire Code inspection and not the Town's. A failed inspection costs the licence holder a demerit point, and seven points can suspend the licence (section 10.3 of By-law 2026-08).

Closing a unit for the season runs into section 4.19.5: a building vacant more than 90 days has its utilities disconnected with proof, or is otherwise secured. So an off season closing is booked as one job, with a plumber draining the lines, shut off photos, the locks checked, and the paperwork the Town asks for.

Zoning By-law 2003-60, section 3.28, allows one attached accessory dwelling unit in a house or street townhouse in the R1, R2 and R3 zones, and only if the whole dwelling meets the Building Code and Fire Code. A 2017 draft residential market analysis prepared for the Town cited CMHC for no purpose built rental apartments in Wasaga Beach as of October 2016, with private rentals almost entirely low density housing. The County's pipeline for the end of 2022 looks similar: 2,413 single detached homes and 852 townhouses against 294 apartments (Table 44). The Town's residential building page lists the fire separation details and the emergency egress window among the documents for a suite permit. A repair in a suite never opens a fire separation, and the after photo shows the egress window opening freely. See basement and secondary suites.

A basement suite also has a plumbing test. Section 3.28.2.8 wants its finished floor no lower than any sanitary or storm sewer serving the building, so after a backup the plumber's findings go to the owner in writing, with photos of the clean-out and the drain.

By-law 2016-98 sets who owns which length of pipe. The Town keeps the lateral from the main to the property line, the owner keeps it from the property line into the building, clean-out included (sections 3.4.3 and 3.4.4). An owner who finds a blocked sewer has a licensed plumber find the cause (section 5.1.1), and a broken private lateral has 14 days to be repaired from the day the owner knows, or the Town can shut the water off (section 3.2.4). So a backup goes straight to a licensed plumber or drain contractor, the camera findings and clean-out photos are dated, and the 14 days is counted from that date. If the fault is on the Town's length, you hold the finding when you call Public Works, and the Town's 2026 fee schedule prices a service call at $85 an hour in working hours and $170 an hour after hours, plus materials.

Only a water works employee may operate the curb stop (section 2.6.9), and the Town's water page says seasonal shut offs are typically booked on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, with 24 hours' notice and the resident present. A job that needs the water off at the street is scheduled around that appointment, and the report names who met the Town.

Wasaga Beach sits on Georgian Bay, and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority reviews development near the shoreline, rivers, streams, wetlands and floodplains under Ontario Regulation 41/24. Its page also says owners next to Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, the beach included, need an Ontario Parks work permit before shoreline works. The Town adds a layer: development in an F suffix zone waits on a Site Plan Control Agreement and a conservation permit (section 3.11), and a structure that needs a building permit cannot go within 30 m of a watercourse's high water elevation without the authority's permission (section 3.12.1). Before a quote for a deck, a retaining wall, a regrade or a suite near the water, the address is checked against NVCA's interactive map. A regulated lot waits for NVCA's answer before anyone mobilizes.

From November 1 to April 1, parking is not permitted from 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. (section 3.1.16 of Parking By-law 2024-47), and that clause has no exception for a trade vehicle. The dispatch note for a winter night call names the driveway as the place to park, so a repair that runs past 1:00 a.m. does not end with a ticket on the van.

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 Wasaga Beach job, request work.