Toronto permit data

Toronto Building Permit Office: Who to Call

Published October 14, 2026

How do you contact Toronto Building about a permit?

Short answer: By phone, for most things: 416-397-5330, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Written questions go to bldinquiries@toronto.ca. In-person visits are by appointment and cover zoning only. All of this is on Toronto Building's contact page, Toronto Building being the City division that issues building permits.

People who search for the building permit office often want a counter to walk up to. Toronto Building publishes a set of routes instead, and each does a different job.

What can each channel actually do?

The channels are not interchangeable. Every detail below is from the City's contact page unless another link is given.

The general inquiry line. Call 416-397-5330 for general inquiries, during the weekday hours above. The contact page also gives this number for arranging an electronic funds transfer (EFT, a bank-to-bank payment). The City requires EFT for development charges, which are fees on new development, and for other development-related fees.

The fee payment line. The Toronto Building Fee Payment Line is 416-397-5222. The City takes Visa, MasterCard and American Express on this line. It states that phone payments "are limited to a maximum of $20,000.00 per project." Any balance can be paid by cash, cheque or debit card. Have the application folder number ready. That is the reference number on your permit application.

Email. Write to bldinquiries@toronto.ca, the address on the contact page. The City asks you to include "a brief description of your inquiry, property address, contact number, and any applicable attachments." Email suits a question with details you would otherwise read out on the phone.

Online payment. Toronto Building Payments Online is described on the same contact page. It lets applicants pay permit fees by credit card "at any time of the day." The application itself is covered step by step in how to apply for a building permit in Toronto.

Inspections. Booking an inspection is among the things the contact page says it covers. It does not give a separate inspection number. Our guide to Toronto building permit inspections explains the inspection stages.

Planning consultants. These are questions about planning approvals, not about a building permit. The contact page says they are for "property owners, developers, builders and others interested in obtaining planning approvals for developing property." For these, the contact page lists planning consultants by district, each with a direct email and phone number.

In person. By appointment only, and only for general Zoning By-law information. It is a zoning service, not a permit desk.

Where are the four district offices?

The City lists them by district on its appointment page.

• Toronto and East York District, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen St W, 1st floor west.
• North York District, North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge St, 1st floor.
• Scarborough District, Scarborough Civic Centre, 150 Borough Dr, 3rd floor.
• Etobicoke York District, Etobicoke Civic Centre, 399 The West Mall, main floor.

You book each one through that appointment page. You do not just turn up. The City states that each appointment "will be scheduled for a duration of 30 minutes." It also states that "in-person appointments must be made in the same district where the property you are inquiring about is located." The page has an address lookup that tells you the district.

What does an in-person appointment cover?

Zoning, and nothing else. The appointment page says appointments "are limited to Zoning By-law information." For everything else, it says to call 416-397-5330.

The same page adds one point many owners miss. It says you "may need zoning approval and a building permit when changing the use of a building, even if no construction is involved." So a change of use can be a zoning question even with no work planned.

The City asks visitors to arrive about 10 minutes early and to bring a copy of the appointment confirmation, on paper or on a phone. Our guide to checking the zoning of a Toronto property covers what you can look up yourself first.

What should you have ready before you call or write?

The City asks for the property address and a short description in written inquiries. The same two things help on a phone call.

• The address. The City asks for it in writing, and in-person service is booked by the district the property is in.
• What you are doing, described as work, not as a goal. "Cutting a new window opening in a foundation wall" is clearer than "finishing my basement".
• Whether anything has been applied for already, including by a previous owner.
• The application folder number, if there is an application. The fee payment line asks for it.

What can you answer without contacting anyone?

Some questions people call about are already public. Whether an active permit exists on an address, and how it was described, is in the City's open data.

One limit matters. PermitIndex's permit search, which requires signing in, holds the City's register of active permits. Permits leave that register as projects close. So no result does not prove that no permit was ever issued.

How to look up a Toronto building permit explains what the fields mean. How to check a Toronto building permit status covers an application already in review. What the record cannot tell you is whether your own project needs a permit. That is the question the phone line is for.

Methodology and limits