Notice: An updated Provincial Planning Statement (PPS) has been released by the Ontario government. The new PPS consolidates the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Due to this change in legislation, previous comments provided through Preliminary Severance Reviews may have changed.
Policies of the new PPS will be applied to all Planning Act decisions on or after October 20, 2024. Please contact the Planning Department (planning@ptbocounty.ca) directly to determine how, or if, these changes affect your proposal.
A severance is an application process that creates one or more new lots from an existing property. You can find out more by reading our Land Severance Guide.
Starting a severance
Your first step is to submit a Severance Proposal Form and have a Preliminary Severance Review completed. This free service looks at your proposed severance and lets you know if what you plan to do conforms to the relevant planning policies and makes you aware of any issues.
Supplementary information for surplus farm dwellings: If you are proposing to sever an existing home that is surplus to a farming operation, you will be required to complete a Farm Information Form and submit it together with your Proposal Form or formal Application.
Submit complete Proposal Forms to our Planning department in person, by mail, or by fax. Contact information is on Page 3 of the Proposal Form. You can also email a completed form together with a sketch and Farm Information Form (if applicable) to planning@ptbocounty.ca.
Severance application
Once finished the above step, the next step is to submit an Application for Severance. If any studies are required, they must be submitted at this time along with the application fee. Please remember that a separate application and application fee is required for each new lot. Contact the Land Division office if you are uncertain what should be submitted. A Sample Application for Severance is available should you wish to see what a completed application form looks like.
Please book an appointment to submit an application to our Land Division office. This ensures sufficient staff are available and avoids any wait times. To book an appointment you can call 705-743-3718 or email ldivision@ptbocounty.ca.
Validation of Title or Cancellation Certificate
A certificate of validation is used to validate or correct a prior registered document such as a transfer of land or mortgage that breached the Planning Act as the required approvals under the Planning Act were received. Validation of title is not used to create new lots. However, an Application for Validation of Title does follow a similar process to the application for consent, and is also processed by our Land Division office.
A Cancellation Certificate is an application that allows a municipality to cancel a previous consent (severance). This eliminates the common law principle of ‘once a consent, always a consent’, enabling landowners to effectively merge properties that were previously severed. Decisions made for this type of application cannot be appealed.
Contact
Call the Land Division office at 705-743-3718 (toll-free 1-800-710-9586) or email us at ldivision@ptbocounty.ca to find out more about the process, to submit an application, or to find the status of an application on file.
Conditions of severance
Conditions are items that need to be done after the severance has been approved. You have two years from the date of approval to complete your conditions. Once you have met all conditions, the Land Division office will issue a Certificate so that the new lot can be registered.
The instructions and examples below are helpful when completing your conditions of severance.