Building a House on a PEI Lot: Permits and Steps Before You Break Ground

Every spring I hear from people who have found the perfect piece of land, maybe a field near Kinkora with a view of rolling farmland or a lot tucked off a quiet road near Long River, and they want to know how to go from bare ground to a finished home. The answer starts long before the excavator shows up. Here is how the permit side of building works on the Island, in plain language.

Two permits, not one

In almost every case, you need both a Development Permit and a Building Permit before construction can start.

• Development Permit. This one deals with land use and how the building sits on the lot. It is issued under the provincial Planning Act. Setbacks, servicing and placement all come into play here.
• Building Permit. This confirms the structure is designed and built to code. It is issued under the provincial Building Codes Act.

The Province adopted Tier 1 of the 2020 National Model Codes effective March 31, 2024, including the 2020 National Building Code of Canada and the 2020 National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings. Your builder or designer should be working to those standards.

Who issues the permits depends on where the lot is

This is where location really matters.

• If the land is outside a municipality, or inside a municipality that has no official plan and land-use bylaws, you apply to the Province's Land Division for both permits.
• If the municipality has an official plan and bylaws, it issues the Development Permit. You still apply to the Province for the Building Permit.
• Charlottetown, Stratford and Summerside issue both their own Development and Building Permits.

The Province has a Municipal Boundaries Map you can use to check whether a community has an official plan. When I show land, this is one of the first things I look up, because it tells us who you will be dealing with.

Questions to answer before you buy the lot

The smartest time to think about permits is before you own the land. A few things I encourage buyers to check:

• Is it an approved building lot? If a parcel still needs to be subdivided, or its use needs to change, there is a separate subdivision or change of use application that comes first.
• How will water and sewage work? Most rural lots need a private well and septic system. The Province's development permit package includes setback information for sewage disposal systems, and a site assessment by a qualified professional is part of planning a septic. If you are on a well, my guide to well water testing on PEI explains what to test once you have water.
• Is there road access and a civic address? A lot on a private lane can raise questions about access and winter maintenance.
• Are there wetlands, watercourses or coastal setbacks? These can shrink the area you can actually build on.
• Are you a non-resident? Larger parcels and shore frontage can bring the Lands Protection Act into play. You can read more in my plain-language summary of the Lands Protection Act.

Many of these can be written into your offer as conditions, so you are not locked in until you are comfortable.

What goes into the applications

The provincial Building Permit application asks for a set of plans: foundation, elevations, floor plans, cross-sections and a site plan, with truss or framing details required before the framing inspection. It also asks for property details such as the property tax number and civic address. Incomplete applications are returned, so it pays to have your builder help assemble the package.

Provincial applications can be submitted at Land Division offices in Charlottetown, O'Leary, Summerside and Montague. The Province also offers one-on-one meetings with staff, virtually or in person, to help with submissions. If you are building in Prince County, the Summerside office is handy.

Don't start early

The Province is clear on this: construction can only begin after you have received your Development and Building Permits. That includes site work done in preparation for construction. It can be tempting to get a head start when the weather is good, but starting without permits can create costly problems.

Once you have applied, you can check the status of a provincial application online using your PID and the date your fee was paid.

A realistic timeline mindset

I won't guess at processing times, because they change with the season and the volume of applications. What I can say is that PEI's building season is short enough that planning in winter for a spring or summer start is a good habit. Lining up your designer, builder and septic professional early gives you the best chance of breaking ground when you want to.

Ready to look at land?

If you are dreaming of building, start by browsing PEI land and building lots, then let's talk about which parcels fit your plans. Contact Jodi Bernard, CENTURY 21 Northumberland Realty, so we can work through the permit questions together before you buy.