How can I convert my home in Kitchener into a duplex?

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Question: What is a duplex and can I convert my family home into a duplex?

Answer:  “Duplex dwelling” means a building containing two dwelling units but not including a semi-detached dwelling.

“Dwelling unit” means a room or suite of habitable rooms which is located in a building, is occupied or designed to be occupied by a household as single independent and separate housekeeping establishment contains both a kitchen and a bathroom for the exclusive or common use of the occupants thereof and has a private entrance leading directly from outside the building or from a common hallway or stairway inside the building.

There are parking requirements:

Duplex requires two parking spaces (one space per dwelling unit).

One space must be set back a minimum of 20 feet from the front lot line

parking for duplexes may be in tandem (one behind another)

Minimum size for a parking space is 8.5′ x 18′

Relative to zoning, a single-family dwelling, semi-detached dwelling or street townhouse dwelling may be converted to duplex dwelling in the R-2 TO R-8, CR-1, CR-2 and MU-1 to MU-3 zones provided all regulations of the bylaw are met such as parking and setback.

A building permit is required to convert a DWELLING to a duplex use. This ensures that the requirements of the building code are met. Some regulations are; fire separation, smoke alarms, exits, minimum window sizes, minimum ceiling heights and minimum room sizes.

The city of Kitchener has a complete set of rules and regulations available.

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7 Comments

      1. says: Olivia

        Im in the same boat as previous commenter. Im in kitchener.
        the basement is already finished, but I’m pretty sure it is not to Code. All the information im finding is how to build it from scratch. Do you think you can help me out?

    1. says: Keith Marshall

      I’ve never seen one and I’ve never heard of anyone doing this, but I really don’t know.
      An email to the city planning department should get you an answer.

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