Higher ‘fail to comply’ business fines could generate over $100K in Brampton: report

Nearly 150 businesses racked up over 270 “fail to comply” tickets in Brampton last year, and bylaw changes could lead to higher fines and over $115,000 in additional city revenue.

The city’s Business Licensing By-law and has seen regular tweaks since it was updated at the start of 2024, including removed, renumbered, or reorganized schedules. Those changes have led to “outdated references” under the city’s Administrative Penalties By-law, according to a new report.

But proposed changes would update the wording of the rules and introduce graduated fines for “fail to comply with an order” tickets that could generate $117,250 in city revenue, the report says.

In 2025, 148 properties received approximately 271 “Fail to comply with an order” tickets under Brampton bylaws, with a fine of $250. The proposed changes would increase the base fine for a fail to comply offence would double to $500, and increase to $750 for a second ticket and $1,000 for every following infraction.

“These amendments will enable Enforcement and By-law Services to resume full enforcement of the applicable regulations and strengthen compliance outcomes,” city staff said in the report, which will go before a committee of Brampton City Council on Wednesday.

Another proposed change includes the type of insurance short-term rentals are required to have to operate in Brampton.

The current Short-Term Rental By-law requires applicants to maintain Commercial General Liability insurance with a minimum coverage limit of $2 million, but city staff recommend changing the requirement to General Liability with a $2 million-minimum instead.

A review of the City’s short-term rental licensing framework found the insurance requirement was more restrictive than the city’s Residential Rental Licensing framework.

If approved, the changes would also increase the required notice of a licensees’ insurance cancellation, expiration or variation from 10 days to 15 days to align with standard insurance notification periods and ensure consistency across the city’s rental housing licensing frameworks.