Severances

If you're interested in submitting a consent application, please reach out to County staff. Information on consulting can be found here on our website.

County staff can review your proposal and provide helpful feedback prior to sending a pre-consultation request to the local municipality. This will include a list of the required materials or studies that need to be submitted with a complete application. 

All complete applications for consent (severance) at the County require written comments from your local municipality. 

Most of the local municipalities require a filled out consent application, a sketch, and a fee to review and provide formal written comments. 

These written comments will provide proposed conditions from the local municipality that address local concerns, such as zoning, entrance approvals, cash-in-lieu of parkland payments, and a requirement that property taxes are paid to date. 

Once you have your pre-consultation comments and you have gathered any materials or reports that are required, you can submit your application to the County. 

The County requires the following to render your application 'complete':

• A completed, signed and commissioned application for consent
• A completed severance sketch (see here for sketch requirements)
• The consent application fee, as outlined in the Tariff of Fees
• Any studies or reports identified and required during pre-consultation (such as an Environmental Impact Study, Site Evaluation Report, Minimum Distance Separation calculation)
• For new lots on private services (septic system), a letter from a licensed septage hauler that they have capacity to haul sewage from the new lot

County staff will review any submitted studies or reports and advise if a peer review is required. If peer review is required, the applicant will need to submit the peer review deposit. 

Once your application has been submitted, County staff will issue a Notice of Public Meeting. 

This notice will be mailed to all landowners within 60 m of your property, a copy of the notice will be posted on site, and the notice will be circulated to appropriate agencies. 

A County planning staffer and members of the Land Division Committee may also attend the property for a site visit. You do not need to be at the property to meet them. 

The Haliburton County Land Division Committee meets monthly to review and make decisions on consent applications. This meeting is normally held on the second Monday of each month at 1 pm. This meeting is currently held electronically via Zoom. Agendas for the Committee meetings are posted to the County's Civicweb portal and can be accessed here.

County planning staff provide a recommendation report to the Committee. The applicant or their appointed agent may also speak to the application and answer any questions if the Committee has any.

The Committee will decide if they wish to approve with conditions (provisional consent), defer for more information, or deny the application at this meeting. 

Once the Committee makes a decision, you will receive a Notice of Decision within 15 days. 

If the decision was to deny the application, this notice will include the reasons for the denial, together with information on the applicant's appeal rights to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

If the decision was to approve the application, this notice will include the approval and the conditions that must be satisfied. Applicants have two years from the date of the notice to complete their conditions. All notices are accompanied by a letter that provides some guidance on condition fulfillment. 

Important: Failure to fulfill your conditions and get a certificate of official endorsed within this two year period will lead to your consent lapsing. Once a consent lapses, you must start over again if you want to complete it. 

Once the conditions of consent approval have been satisfied, you will need to request a clearance letter from the local municipality and have your solicitor submit documentation for endorsement.

Prior to the two year lapsing date, a Certificate of Official must be stamped or endorsed by the Land Division Commitee Secretary-Treasurer. The certificate includes the new legal description of the severed land and must be prepared by your solicitor, together with a draft transfer. A nominal fee is also required for review and endorsement. 

Once this certificate is endorsed, your solicitor must register it in the Ontario Land Registry Office within two years. Similar to the condition fulfillment, if you do not complete this transfer within two years, the consent lapses.