Toronto has 146,000 buildings without final inspections
March 18, 2014
By
Canadian Consulting Engineer
The city of Toronto's auditor has found that more than 146,000 buildings issued a building permit for construction or renovation work have not had their final inspections and approvals.
The city of Toronto’s auditor has found that more than 146,000 buildings issued a building permit for construction or renovation work have not had their final inspections and approvals.
The city auditor general Jeff Griffiths found that some building permits date back as far as 1975.
More than two-thirds of the projects with active permits have not been inspected for more than a year. Many of these — 70% — related to fire and security upgrades, where an inspector has flagged a violation, but failed to follow up.
The city issued almost 40,000 building permits in 2012 and closed almost 28,000. The office has 131 building inspectors.
The auditor warns that many inspections did not have the detail required by the building code, and that when construction started without a permit, extra fines were not levied as they should be.
He said that the lapse inspection regime could put the city in danger of lawsuits.
To read the auditor’s report, click here.
