Document checklist for your building permit application

What a Quebec municipality will probably ask you for, for a timber-frame tiny house, who produces it, and the questions to ask it before you file.

Short answer: each municipality (or MRC) has its own form and decides, by bylaw, which plans and documents to attach (Act respecting land use planning and development, s. 119, 5°). The official must issue the permit when the application complies with zoning and the construction bylaw, the required plans and documents are provided and the fee is paid (s. 120). This list gathers what our sources say you will be asked for; it promises no permit and replaces neither your municipality's form nor professional advice.

You receive this list with your set of drawings, in 'Your plans' (sheets A-801 onward).

What your set of drawings already contains

Pre-project drawings, not sealed. They show the plan, the elevations and the sections of your model; they are not the structural drawings.

• Ground-floor plan (sheet A-201)
  Walls at the thickness of the chosen insulation system, doors, windows, rooms and areas, architectural dimension strings. An application often includes site, elevation, section and detail drawings, depending on what the municipality requires.
  cemeq-04-plans-devis-croquis.md §7; modeles_dessins.py
• Elevations (sheet A-301)
  The four facades, with their orientation, the windows, the doors and the roof overhang.
  cemeq-04-plans-devis-croquis.md §7; training course ch. 35, step 2
• Cross section and wall section (sheets A-401 and A-501)
  The slab, the layered walls, the roof, from inside to outside, with their thicknesses. The truss is only figured, with no section and no dimension.
  training course ch. 35, step 2 (wall and roof sections); modeles_dessins.py
• Opening schedule (sheet A-601)
  Windows and doors: mark, facade, size, sill height.
  modeles_dessins.py
• Material list and approximate prices (sheet A-701)
  It helps estimate the value of the work the application declares. Prices are approximate and a line with no price read stays 'to obtain'; it is not a quote.
  ou-puis-je-batir.md §4 (estimated value); modeles_plans.py

What you get elsewhere

These documents come from you, your municipality or a professional. Biobâtir produces none of them.

• Your municipality's (or MRC's) application form
  The application is made in writing, on the form of the municipality or the MRC (regional county municipality, which issues permits in unorganized territory). It includes at least: the date, your name and address, the contact details of an agent if any, the type of work and its probable duration.
  cemeq-04 §7; fiche-eau-eaux-usees.md A.1 (R22, s. 4, paras. 8 and 9)
• The information the city sends to the building board (RBQ)
  Your name; the name of the person doing the work and their licence number, or the statement that it is you, the owner (the 'owner-builder': the person building their own house); the location; the nature of the work; the estimated value; the planned start and end dates; the number of storeys; the floor area; the name and phone number of the main designer of the plans; the building classification. The city sends them within 5 days of the application.
  ou-puis-je-batir.md §4 (A-19.1, r. 1, s. 1-2); training course ch. 35, step 3
• The cadastral description of the lot
  The lot number, its area and dimensions, depending on the municipality. A municipality may also require that the land form one or more distinct lots that comply with its subdivision bylaw.
  cemeq-04 §7; ou-puis-je-batir.md §4 (LAU, s. 116, 1°); fiche-eau-eaux-usees.md A.2
• The building's site plan or setting-out certificate
  If your municipality asks for it, a land surveyor produces it (the professional who measures and marks land boundaries; a location certificate, a boundary survey or a staking-out is reserved to them). Who may produce the site plan depends on your municipality's bylaw: to confirm.
  training course ch. 35, step 2 and 'to confirm'
• Proof that the land is serviced, or the water and sewage projects
  Before issuing, the municipality may require: water and sewer lines established on the street, or a bylaw ordering their installation; land adjacent to a public street, or to a compliant private street; and projects for drinking-water supply and wastewater treatment that comply with the Environment Quality Act. A residence is never exempt from this last point.
  ou-puis-je-batir.md §4 (LAU, s. 116, 2° to 5°); training course ch. 35, step 3
• Without sewer: the septic installation permit
  A municipality permit is required before the work (the MRC in unorganized territory). The application includes: your name and contact details, the cadastral description, the number of bedrooms, a characterization study of the site and natural ground (topography, slope, soil permeability, depth to bedrock and to the groundwater table) and a scale site plan. For an isolated residence, the study and plan are signed by a professional within the meaning of the Professional Code whose order governs the activity: ask your municipality which ones it accepts.
  fiche-eau-eaux-usees.md A.1 to A.3 (R22, s. 4, 4.1 and 4.3)
• In an agricultural zone: the agricultural land protection body's authorization
  A municipality generally cannot issue a building permit without that body's authorization, a notice of compliance or the lapse of a period after a declaration. The municipal permit is never enough on its own, and you cannot build first. Cases exist where you may build without authorization, each with its conditions and a prior declaration.
  training course ch. 35, step 1
• The justification of insulation and air-tightness, if you are asked
  For a tiny house, Quebec imposes section 9.36 (energy efficiency) of the Code. The other sections of Part 9 only become mandatory if your municipality's bylaw adopts them. The reference sheets do not say municipalities ask for this justification: to confirm. Wall section A-501 shows the layers, and the designer's insulation page gives each assembly's thermal resistance against the table threshold.
  fiche-enveloppe-mecanique.md §0 and §B.2

What is reserved for an engineer

A heavy-timber frame is outside the prescriptive rules of Part 9 of the Code: it is designed under Part 4 and is an engineer's work.

• The frame's structural drawings
  For a pegged heavy-timber house, the structural drawings are designed, signed and sealed by an engineer in good standing. The frame is outside section 9.23 (which covers light framing at no more than 600 mm spacing): its design falls under Part 4 of the Code and the Engineers Act. Biobâtir's drawings contain no structural dimension and are not sealed.
  training course ch. 35, step 2; fiche-enveloppe-mecanique.md §N.1 (NBC 9.23.1.1; I-9, s. 2 and 3)
• In two difficult-soil cases, the septic study and plan
  For an above-ground sand filter, or a polishing field built in soil of impermeable texture, the study is signed by a member of the Order of Engineers or the Order of Geologists, and the plan by a member of the Order of Engineers.
  fiche-eau-eaux-usees.md A.3 (R22, s. 4.3, para. 2)
• What your municipality may require in addition
  A city may require a professional's seal on the architectural drawings, even where the law does not. The municipality decides, by bylaw, which plans and documents to attach: ask it in writing.
  training course ch. 35 ('The municipality may require more'); ou-puis-je-batir.md §4 (LAU, s. 119, 5°)

After the permit

This is not paper to attach to the application, but it is prepared before you start.

• The notice of opening of the site to the CNESST
  The owner is the site's prime contractor: they send the CNESST (the commission for occupational health and safety) a written notice of opening at least 10 days before activities start, and a notice of closing 10 days before the planned end. The case where you work alone is to be confirmed with the CNESST.
  training course ch. 35, step 5 (LSST, s. 197; CSTC, s. 2.4.1)
• Inspections, to ask for at the start
  The setting-out check is done at the foundation, not at the end. Ask in writing at which stages the inspector must visit, and what they must see before you pour, close a wall or insulate. Do not close anything they must see.
  training course ch. 35, step 6; ou-puis-je-batir.md §4 (s. 122)
• The occupancy certificate
  Occupying a new building can be prohibited without it. A partial certificate can sometimes be obtained on proof that the foundations' location complies. An expired permit requires a new application, subject to the bylaws in force at that time.
  ou-puis-je-batir.md §4 (LAU, s. 122); cemeq-04 §7

Questions to ask your municipality before you file

Call the planning department with the lot number, or the address, of the land. The first seven are those of our free guide 'Where to build a tiny house'; the others come from the same sources.

1. Which zone is this lot in, and is housing allowed there?
2. What is the minimum house area in this zone? And the minimum frontage width?
3. Do you allow a detached accessory dwelling (a tiny house in the yard)? Under what conditions?
4. Is the lot in an agricultural zone?
5. Are water and sewer lines available? If not, what is needed for the septic system and the well?
6. Which plans and documents must I attach to the permit application, and what is the fee?
7. Is a tiny house on wheels accepted as a residence? (Often not.)
8. Which form must I use, and who do I file it with: the municipality or the MRC?
9. Who may produce each document (site plan, drawings, site study) and who must sign it?
10. Which professionals do you accept for the septic characterization study and site plan?
11. How long does an application take to process? (Ask in writing: there is no universal period.)
12. Is a notice of motion to amend the zoning under way for this lot (permit freeze)?
13. At which stages must the inspector visit, and what must they see before I pour, close a wall or insulate?
14. How long is the permit valid, and what happens when it expires?

A sample cover letter

Short and non-binding: it asks for information and is not a permit application. Replace what is in brackets.

Subject: request for information before a building permit application

Hello,

I plan to build a house of about [___] m² on lot [lot number or address], and to carry out the work myself, as the owner. Before I file a permit application, I would like to know:
1. which form to use and who to file it with;
2. which plans and documents are required, who may produce them and who must sign them;
3. the fee and the processing time;
4. at which stages inspections take place.

I can provide, for information, a pre-project set (plan, elevations and sections). This letter is not a permit application and does not commit me to anything.

Thank you for your written reply.

[First and last name] · [phone] · [email]

The rules of 62 municipalities in Quebec and Ontario (minimum area, accessory dwelling, bylaw and source) are in our free guide, with the six rules that decide whether you can build. The free guide.

Where this list comes from

Each line cites its source in grey. 'To confirm' means our sources do not settle it: ask your municipality.

This page is neither legal advice nor an engineer's opinion. Biobâtir's drawings are pre-project and not sealed; a permit is never guaranteed. Laws change: check the current edition and ask your municipality.