Bill 97 is an omnibus Ontario statute that amends seven Acts dealing with building regulation, municipal powers, planning, development charges and residential tenancies. It expands provincial regulation-making authority over Toronto and other municipalities, remakes parts of the Planning Act (including the definition of “area of employment”), adjusts when municipal refunds for planning fees apply, and creates a new ministerial power to require landowners to enter development agreements.
The bill also reassigns appointment authority for Building Code inspectors and authorizes up to four Deputy Provincial Land and Development Facilitators.
On the tenant side, Bill 97 adds a new limited right for tenants to install window or portable air conditioners (subject to prescribed conditions), tightens documentary requirements and timelines tied to termination-for-renovation notices and rights of first refusal, and raises maximum administrative fines. These changes re-balance speed and tools for provincial-led development with targeted tenant protections — and shift a number of operational and compliance obligations to municipalities, landlords, landowners and developers.
At a Glance
What It Does
Grants the Minister broad regulation-making authority under the City of Toronto Act and Municipal Act (including power to require payments/compensation and to set conditions for by‑laws), adds a ministerial order power requiring landowners to enter agreements before development proceeds, revises Planning Act definitions and appeal timelines, and amends the Residential Tenancies Act to allow tenant-installed window/portable air conditioners under stated conditions.
Who It Affects
Municipal governments (and Toronto specifically), landowners and developers, the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator and deputies, landlords and tenants in residential rental units, and the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) as it will receive additional application material and face changed appeal windows.
Why It Matters
The province centralizes new levers to accelerate or shape development (regulations that can override other Acts, orders that bind land use until agreements are signed) while layering operational rules affecting permit fee refunds, appeal timing and tenant rights — all of which will change transactional risk, compliance workflows and negotiating leverage for developers, municipalities and landlords.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Act bundles targeted changes across seven statutes to make it easier for the province to direct and condition development while embedding a set of tenant protections. For municipalities and developers, the most consequential tools are expanded ministerial regulation-making powers under the City of Toronto Act and Municipal Act and a new Planning Act section (49.2) that lets the Minister order a landowner to enter agreements with the Minister or a municipality.
Those orders can pause most development activity on a parcel until required agreements are signed and can mandate contributions beyond statutory charges. The legislation explicitly allows such orders and related agreements to be registered against title and exempts the orders from Part III of the Legislation Act, 2006, narrowing procedural safeguards on how those instruments are made.
On administrative procedure, the bill narrows and harmonizes several municipal timelines and application rules. It moves the effective date for multiple municipal fee-refund rules to July 1, 2023 and deems refunds for plans/applications received before that date to have never been required; it simplifies language in the Development Charges Act (changing “parcel of urban residential land” to “parcel of land”); it requires municipal clerks to forward certain application materials to the Ontario Land Tribunal when an appeal is filed; and it shortens notice and appeal timing in section 38 (the clerk’s notice window and related appeal procedures are adjusted).
The Ministry also gains express authority to appoint a Facilitator plus up to four Deputies to advise and act at ministerial direction.The tenant-facing provisions add a narrowly framed right for tenants to install window or portable air conditioners where the landlord does not provide air conditioning, subject to prescribed exceptions and conditions (written notice to the landlord, safety, compliance with by‑laws, and—when relevant—energy efficiency information). If the tenancy agreement requires the landlord to supply electricity, the landlord may charge a rent increase limited to the landlord’s actual electricity cost or a reasonable estimate; the law also requires rent reductions when the unit no longer uses the unit seasonally or the tenant removes it.
For termination-for-renovation notices that require vacant possession, landlords must now include a report from a person with prescribed qualifications stating vacant possession is necessary; failure to include the report voids the notice. The bill creates a presumption of bad faith against landlords where certain prescribed persons do not occupy the unit within a prescribed period, tightens the timelines and form requirements for right-of-first-refusal processes, and increases maximum fines under the Residential Tenancies Act.Taken together, the Act increases provincial capacity to shape development outcomes and negotiate site‑specific agreements while standardizing certain municipal processes and expanding targeted tenant safeguards.
The new powers create implementation and transparency questions — particularly around the scope of “prescribed” areas, the contents of regulations and the mechanisms for ministerial orders and agreements — that will matter to planning lawyers, municipal clerks, developers, landlords and tenant advocates.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The Minister may make regulations under the City of Toronto Act and Municipal Act that can govern or limit municipal powers, require payments/compensation from landowners and — where a conflict exists — the regulation prevails over other Acts or regulations.
Subsection 49.2 of the Planning Act lets the Minister order a landowner to enter into agreements with the Minister or a municipality, and bars most activity on the land until those agreements are executed; such agreements can be registered on title and may require obligations beyond statutory charges.
Refund obligations for municipal processing fees are constrained: refunds only apply for plans/applications received on or after July 1, 2023 (subject to regulation), and any refund obligations that arose for submissions before that date are deemed never to have been required.
The Residential Tenancies Act permits tenant-installed window or portable air conditioners subject to written notice and safety/municipal-law conditions; if the landlord supplies electricity under the tenancy, the landlord may raise rent only to recover actual or reasonably estimated electricity costs, with mandatory reductions when the unit is not used or the AC is removed.
The Act creates a presumption of bad faith (unless rebutted) if none of the persons described in section 48 occupy a rental unit within a prescribed period after a termination-for-renovation vacancy, and raises maximum administrative fines to $100,000 for individuals and $500,000 for corporations.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Deputy Minister appoints building inspectors
The bill replaces the prior requirement that inspectors be appointed under Part III of the Public Service of Ontario Act with a direct statutory duty on the Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to appoint inspectors necessary to enforce the Building Code Act. Practically, that centralizes appointment authority within the ministry and removes the previous cross-reference to the public service appointment regime — a change that shortens the chain of authority for enforcement staffing but may require internal administrative adjustments in how inspectors are recruited and assigned.
Ministerial regulation power and conflict supremacy
Both Acts are amended to prefix municipal exercise of specified powers with “subject to the regulations” and empower the Minister to make detailed regulations governing demolition/conversion controls, by-law content, permit conditions and to authorize municipal requirements for payments and compensation from landowners. Each amendment includes an express conflict rule: where a regulation conflicts with another provision of the Act or a different statute/regulation, the regulation prevails. Operationally, that gives the province a mechanism to standardize or curtail municipal by-law content and to compel or define developer contributions without relying solely on municipal council decisions.
Definitions, fee-refund timing and appeal procedures
The Planning Act revisions remap the definition of “area of employment,” add transitional rules to preserve lawful pre-existing uses, change several occurrences of “parcel of urban residential land” to “parcel of land” (broadening statutory language), and move multiple municipal fee-refund rules to apply only to plans/applications received on or after July 1, 2023 — with earlier refund requirements formally cancelled. The schedule also shortens some clerk notice periods (e.g., replacing the word “thirty” with “20” in subsection 38(3)) and harmonizes appeal procedures and timelines to the Ontario Land Tribunal, which will affect how quickly appeals can be filed and how clerks and applicants calendar notices.
Minister can order agreements and broadened Facilitator roles
The Act adds a new section (49.2) authorizing the Minister to require, by order, that a landowner enter into agreements with the Minister or a municipality when the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator or a Deputy Facilitator has been directed to advise on that land. These orders can suspend most forms of development activity on the land until agreements are signed and permit the agreements to create obligations exceeding statutory charge regimes. The Facilitator framework itself is expanded (via the Ministry Act amendments) to allow up to four deputy facilitators; the Facilitator and deputies act at ministerial direction, effectively creating a minister-picked team to negotiate or push site-specific development outcomes.
Regulations for transitional matters and tribunal filings
The Minister may make regulations addressing transitional matters when new provincial policy statements come into force, including deeming dates and specifying which applications or proceedings a new policy applies to. Separately, municipalities must forward information required from applicants to the Ontario Land Tribunal when an appeal is filed — a procedural change intended to ensure the Tribunal has the same application package the municipality used, and to reduce disputes about what evidence was before the local decision-maker.
Tenant AC installation right, renovation notice rules, and enforcement increases
The Act creates a limited statutory right for tenants to install window or portable air conditioners when the landlord does not supply air conditioning, subject to prescribed exceptions and conditions (written notice, safety and local-law compliance, potential energy‑efficiency information). If the tenancy requires the landlord to supply electricity, the landlord may add a rent charge capped at actual or reasonably estimated operating costs; the law requires rent reductions when units stop using or remove the AC. For termination-for-renovation notices that require vacant possession, a landlord must attach a report from a prescribed-qualified person certifying the need for vacant possession — absence of that report voids the notice. The schedule also creates a presumption of bad faith for certain non-occupancy outcomes and raises maximum fines for contraventions.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Tenants concerned about heat: Tenants may now install window/portable AC units (subject to conditions) and obtain automatic rent reductions when they stop using or remove the unit, improving individual control over cooling where central AC is absent.
- Province and Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing: The Minister gains expansive regulatory and ordering tools (regulations that can prevail over other statutes and orders that require undertakings from landowners), increasing provincial leverage to steer large or contentious developments.
- Municipalities seeking negotiation leverage: Municipalities that choose to work with the Minister can rely on the Minister’s order and agreement tools to secure contributions or conditions from landowners and to coordinate provincially‑supported projects.
- Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) users and decision-makers: Because municipal clerks must forward application materials to the OLT on appeal, appellants and the Tribunal will have a clearer record at the outset of appeals, which can streamline adjudication of planning disputes.
- Developers with existing lawful employment-area uses: The reworked “area of employment” definition and transitional protections preserve lawful pre-existing uses on certain parcels, reducing the risk of abrupt policy-driven exclusions for established businesses.
Who Bears the Cost
- Landowners and developers: Orders under section 49.2 and related agreements can require contributions or obligations beyond existing statutory charges, increase negotiation risk, and be registered against title, potentially raising project costs and financing complexity.
- Municipal administrations and clerks: Municipalities must implement changed refund rules, forward additional materials to the OLT and adjust notice/appeal workflows (shorter notice windows), creating administrative and IT burdens and potential transitional costs.
- Landlords: New documentary, notice and inspection-related obligations for renovation notices, plus the requirement to accept tenant-installed ACs subject to rules, increase compliance responsibilities; landlords who supply electricity face monitoring and billing rules tied to actual or estimated AC costs.
- Tenants (electricity costs): Where the tenancy requires the landlord to supply electricity, tenants may shoulder the AC operational cost via a permitted rent increase unless the tenancy expressly forbids it.
- Owners/developers in municipalities previously treated differently: Changes from “parcel of urban residential land” to “parcel of land” and the July 1, 2023 refund cutoff may alter cost allocations and unexpected retrospective financial positions for parties who relied on earlier refund rules.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is familiar: give the province strong, fast tools to unblock and shape housing supply — including orders, regulation supremacy and facilitated negotiations — or preserve municipal discretion, procedural transparency and predictability for property owners and tenants; this bill clearly prioritizes provincial directional power at the cost of increased regulatory uncertainty and potentially reduced local checks on how obligations are imposed.
The Act trades provincial speed and leverage for local autonomy and predictability. Allowing ministerial regulations to prevail over other statutes and enabling ministerial orders that suspend development until agreements are signed solves the immediate policy problem of creating powerful levers to steer large projects — but it also compresses the procedural safeguards that typically accompany land-use regulation.
The exemption of ministerial orders from Part III of the Legislation Act removes a standard layer of regulatory transparency and review, raising questions about consultation, criteria for exercising the power and judicial review risk.
Several implementation gaps will matter in practice. Many provisions rely on “prescribed” circumstances, qualifications or periods (for example, when landlords may prohibit AC installation, the prescribed qualification for professionals certifying renovation necessity, and the “prescribed period of time” that triggers a presumption of bad faith).
Until regulations and prescriptions are published, affected parties will face uncertainty about thresholds, timelines and evidentiary standards. The retroactive cancellation of fee-refund obligations for submissions before July 1, 2023 reduces municipal refund liabilities but may create disputes with applicants who already expected refunds.
Finally, enabling agreements that can impose obligations beyond statutory charges and register on title will complicate due diligence and financing: lenders and purchasers will need clarity about the scope, duration and enforceability of such encumbrances.
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