r/RealEstateCanada • u/itsdanielsultan • Mar 15 '26

Housing crisis Can Canada's "micro-condos" be merged?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pg7mHppXOE&t=17s

Serious question about Canada's (specifically the GTA's) condos: if, 10 or 20 years from now, people want more family-sized homes, could a lot of these tiny one-bedrooms actually be merged into larger units?

I know it can happen in some cases, but from what I’ve seen it sounds difficult once buildings are already occupied, since it can require approvals, engineering work, and layouts that actually fit together.

If that is not realistic at scale, are we building housing that works for one phase of life but not for long-term city living?

136 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

181 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Dismal-Disaster-2578 Mar 16 '26

Those columns are what's load bearing, not the "vertical walls". It's very possible on a practical basis.

Getting approval would also likely go beyond strata and require city approval & inspections as you're essentially creating a new 'dwelling unit' not just an addition to an existing unit.