Home / How Much a Minor Variance Costs
Short answer: the planning work starts at $5,000, and the all-in cost usually lands between $6,000 and $12,000 once the municipal fee and drawings are added. Here is what sits behind that number.
A minor variance has two cost layers that people often blur together. The first is the planning fee, what you pay a planner to prepare and argue the application. The second is everything else: the municipality's own application fee, drawings, and any study the Committee asks for.
At Permit.Land the planning fee is fixed and starts at $5,000, confirmed before any work begins. The municipal application fee is set by your city and commonly falls in the $1,000 to $3,500 range. Drawings, if you do not already have them, are extra. For a straightforward residential variance with no surprises, most owners should budget $6,000 to $12,000 all in.
The fixed planning fee covers the work that actually wins the application: reviewing the zoning, confirming the relief you need, preparing the planning justification against the four tests under Section 45 of the Planning Act, assembling the application, and attending the Committee of Adjustment hearing to present it.
Because the fee is fixed, re-submissions and follow-up with staff are included. You are paying for the application, not an hourly meter that climbs every time the city asks a question.
Three things sit outside the planning fee. The municipal application fee, which the city charges to process the application and varies by municipality. Drawings, a site plan and elevations prepared to the standard the Committee expects, if you do not already have them. And occasionally a supporting study, such as an arborist report or a grading plan, where the specific site calls for it.
If the decision is appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal, that is a separate process with its own cost, quoted to scope. Most minor variances are not appealed, but it is worth knowing the path exists.
A single setback variance on a quiet street is the simple end. Cost climbs when the application asks for several variances at once, when the relief is large enough that the city questions whether it is still minor, or when neighbours organize in opposition and the hearing becomes contested. None of those change the Permit.Land planning fee, which is fixed, but they can add studies, drawings, or an appeal.
The honest rule of thumb: the closer your project sits to what the zoning already allows, the cheaper and faster it goes.
See the full pricing schedule or the Minor Variance page.
Related guides: How long a minor variance takes · Minor variance vs rezoning
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