The City of Toronto launched Building Permit Application Pre-Check on August 31, 2026, using CivCheck, the Guided AI Plan Review platform built by Vancouver-based Clariti. The tool lets applicants upload their building permit application documents and receive real-time automated feedback on missing or incomplete information, certain zoning issues, and Ontario Building Code-related problems before submitting to the city. Each finding includes a citation to the specific requirement behind it. The pilot is currently limited to eligible residential buildings with two units or fewer, including additions, alterations, laneway suites, garden suites, decks, porches, and detached garages in eligible residential zones. Use of the tool is voluntary and does not change the city's formal application or review requirements. City staff still conduct a full review and make all final permit decisions regardless of what CivCheck finds. The pilot runs for one year. CivCheck cut time to permit decision by 55 percent for residential permits in Honolulu in the first quarter of 2026.
For years, the fastest path to a faster Toronto building permit was to submit a complete application the first time. That advice has not changed. What changed on August 31, 2026 is that applicants now have a tool to find their own gaps before the city's reviewer finds them first. The City of Toronto launched Building Permit Application Pre-Check, powered by CivCheck, the AI plan review platform from Vancouver-based Clariti.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Upload | Applicant uploads building permit application documents to CivCheck through the City's portal |
| AI review | CivCheck checks for missing documents, incomplete information, zoning issues, and OBC-related problems within the pilot scope |
| Feedback | Applicant receives real-time findings, each with a citation to the specific code or bylaw requirement behind it |
| Decision | Applicant decides whether to revise before submitting to the city |
| City review | City staff conduct a complete review of the application regardless of CivCheck findings. CivCheck does not approve, refuse, or delay any permit. |
The key distinction is that CivCheck is a pre-submission tool, not a replacement for the city's review. An applicant who uses it and addresses every finding is not guaranteed a faster review, but they are less likely to receive a deficiency notice on the first round, which is where most Toronto permit timelines lose weeks or months.
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Check my site →The pilot launched with a deliberately narrow scope:
The scope is explicitly small for a reason. Launching with low-risk, high-volume applications, small residential additions and accessory structures, lets the city and Clariti validate the AI's accuracy on a category where the rules are well-defined before expanding to more complex commercial and multi-unit applications.
If your project is a multi-residential, mixed-use, commercial, or industrial building permit application in Toronto, the pre-check pilot does not currently apply to you. City staff review all applications regardless. The pilot's value is limited to the small residential categories listed above.
The City cited CivCheck's performance in Honolulu as context for the Toronto pilot. CivCheck reduced time to permit decision by 55 percent for residential permits in Honolulu in the first quarter of 2026. That is the most commonly cited figure, but it is from a different regulatory environment with different OBC and zoning rules than Ontario. The Toronto pilot will generate its own performance data over the 12-month run.
A 55 percent reduction from Toronto's current baseline would be significant. Toronto's stated review target for residential applications once deemed complete is 10 business days, but real-world first-review times frequently run longer, particularly when an application is missing documents or has an incomplete submission. The pre-check tool addresses the deficiency problem, not the queue problem; its impact depends on how often incompleteness, rather than workload, is the binding constraint.
For applicants in the pilot's scope, two practical changes:
For applicants outside the pilot's current scope, the relevant shift is directional: Toronto is investing in AI-assisted review, and the pilot is likely to expand in scope after the 12-month run if the Honolulu benchmark holds in Toronto's regulatory environment. The city's broader approval-speed pressure, driven by provincial housing targets and the 2026 DC reduction program's expiry-date mechanics, creates an institutional incentive to expand tools that reduce deficiency cycles.
The City of Toronto launched Building Permit Application Pre-Check on August 31, 2026. It uses CivCheck, an AI plan review platform from Vancouver-based Clariti, to let applicants upload permit documents and receive real-time automated feedback on missing information, zoning issues, and Ontario Building Code problems before submitting to the city. Use is voluntary and city staff still conduct a full review and make all permit decisions.
CivCheck is the Guided AI Plan Review platform built by Clariti, a Vancouver-based company that provides software for municipal permitting and planning processes. The City of Toronto contracted Clariti to run the Building Permit Application Pre-Check pilot. CivCheck was also used in Honolulu, where it reduced time to permit decision by 55 percent for residential permits in the first quarter of 2026.
The pilot is currently limited to residential buildings with two units or fewer, including additions, alterations, laneway suites, garden suites, decks, porches, and detached garages in eligible residential zones. Multi-residential, commercial, industrial, and other complex project types are not currently in scope.
No. CivCheck is a pre-submission self-check tool. City staff still conduct a complete review of every application regardless of what CivCheck finds. CivCheck does not approve, refuse, or delay any permit. It is designed to help applicants find and fix problems before submission to reduce deficiency notices and resubmission cycles.
The City cited a 55 percent reduction in time to permit decision in Honolulu as context, but Toronto's pilot is one year old and performance data specific to Toronto's regulatory environment is not yet published. The tool's impact depends primarily on how often an incomplete submission, rather than workload, is the main cause of delays. For applications in scope, using CivCheck to fix deficiencies before submission is expected to reduce first-review failure rates.
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