Sign Encroachment Agreements in Toronto: When Your Sign Crosses the Property Line
If any part of your sign extends beyond your property line and into the public right of way — even by a few centimetres — you need an encroachment agreement with the City of Toronto before a sign permit can be issued. This is a separate approval from your sign permit, handled by a different City department, with its own forms, fees, insurance requirements, and timeline.
What Is an Encroachment Agreement?
An encroachment agreement is a legal authorization from Transportation Services, Right of Way Management, that allows a private structure — in this case, your sign — to occupy space within the City's road allowance. The road allowance includes not just the road itself, but also sidewalks, boulevards, and the strip of land between your property line and the curb.
When a sign or any part of its structure crosses your property line and enters this public space, that's an encroachment. The City requires a formal agreement before it will allow the encroachment to remain, and the Sign By-law Unit will not issue your sign permit without written approval from Transportation Services.
Under Section 694-17A(1) of the Sign By-law, any sign located in whole or in part in a public right of way requires written approval from the General Manager, Transportation Services.
When Is an Encroachment Agreement Triggered?
An encroachment agreement is required any time a sign or its components extend past your property line into the public right of way. Common scenarios include:
Projecting signs that hang off the building face and extend over the sidewalk. This is the most common trigger. A blade sign, a hanging sign, or a projecting box sign mounted perpendicular to the facade will almost always encroach if the building sits at or near the property line.
Fascia signs and channel letters where the sign cabinet, raceway, or individual letters protrude beyond the face of the building and the building facade is built to the property line. Even a few centimetres of sign depth can cross the line.
Awning and canopy signs that extend outward from the building over the sidewalk.
Ground sign foundations where the footing or base extends beyond the property line into the boulevard.
Where This Happens Most Often
Encroachment is most common on commercial streets where buildings are built right to the property line with the sidewalk immediately adjacent. In Toronto, this includes streets like Bloor Street, Queen Street, King Street, Dundas Street, College Street, Spadina Avenue, St. Clair Avenue, Danforth Avenue, and Yonge Street, among many others.
If your storefront opens directly onto a sidewalk with no setback, there's a strong chance any wall-mounted sign with depth or any projecting sign will encroach. The only way to know for certain is to confirm where your property line is and measure how far the sign extends from the building face.
If you're unsure where your property line falls or whether your sign triggers an encroachment agreement, contact us and we can help you determine this before you apply.
What You Need to Apply
An encroachment agreement application is submitted to Transportation Services, Right of Way Management, for the district where the sign is located. The application package includes:
1. Transportation Services Permit Application The City's permit application form for construction and encroachments within the road allowance. This covers project location, detailed work description, proposed dates, owner information, and an applicant's declaration. Signs fall under the "Minor Construction" permit type alongside marquees, awnings, and canopies. The form requires the property owner's authorization — if you're a tenant or agent, you'll need written authorization from the owner.
2. Encroachment Dimensions Form A separate form documenting the exact measurements of the encroachment. This includes the quantity of encroaching elements, their material, location on the building, approximate size (length, width, square metres), height or depth above or below grade, maximum extent of the encroachment, and setback from both the curb and the sidewalk. All measurements must be in metres.
This is where the physical measuring happens. You need to determine exactly how far the sign extends past the property line, how high it sits, and how much area it occupies within the right of way.
3. Certificate of Insurance The City requires a Certificate of Insurance showing Commercial General Liability coverage of minimum $2,000,000 per occurrence (or $5,000,000 in some cases). The certificate must be completed by the insurer or authorized representative and must include the following provisions:
The City of Toronto named as an Additional Insured with respect to liability arising from the sign
Personal Injury Liability, Contractual Liability, Owner's and Contractor's Protective Coverage, Products-Completed Operations, Contingent Employers Liability, and Non-owned Automobile Liability included
The policy must apply as primary insurance, not excess to any other insurance available to the City
60 days' prior written notice of cancellation or change by registered mail (10 days if cancellation is due to non-payment)
The insurance certificate must be directed to the appropriate Transportation Services district office. Toronto has five district offices: Metro Hall (55 John Street), East York Civic Centre (850 Coxwell Avenue), Etobicoke Civic Centre (399 The West Mall), North York Civic Centre (5100 Yonge Street), and Scarborough Civic Centre (150 Borough Drive).
4. Sign Permit Drawings Your sign permit drawings showing the sign's location and dimensions on the building, with the encroachment clearly identified relative to the property line.
5. Professional Engineer’s Stamp. Your sign permit drawings will require the review and seal of a Professional Engineer. Rouge Hill Consulting provides Engineering for your signage projects.
How Long Does It Take?
Encroachment agreement approvals typically take up to one month. This is on top of your sign permit processing time, not concurrent with it — the Sign By-law Unit circulates your application to Transportation Services as part of the review, and the sign permit cannot be issued until the encroachment agreement is in place.
If your project is time-sensitive, factor this into your schedule from day one. A sign permit that would normally take 3–10 business days can stretch to 5–6 weeks when an encroachment agreement is involved.
Encroachment Agreement Fees
Encroachment agreements cost between $900 and $2,000 or more, depending on the nature and extent of the encroachment. Some agreements also require annual fees for as long as the encroachment remains in place. For one sign, the cost is typically $818.19 + HST. These fees are separate from your sign permit fees and are paid directly to Transportation Services.
You can find the exact cost schedule from Transportation services here.
For details on the full sign permit fee schedule, read: Sign Permit Fees in Toronto: Complete Fee Schedule.
What Happens If You Don't Get One?
If a sign encroaches into the right of way without an approved encroachment agreement, the City will not approve your sign permit. Even if the Sign By-law Unit issued the permit, failure to obtain Transportation Services approval puts the permit in non-compliance. The sign can be ordered removed, and you may face enforcement action from both Toronto Building and Transportation Services.
This is a common mistake: applicants obtain a sign permit but fail to follow up on the encroachment requirement. The permit is issued, the sign goes up, and then an inspector flags the encroachment during a site visit. Don't let that happen.
For more on what happens when signs are installed without proper approvals, read: Already Have a Sign but No Permit?
How We Help
At Rouge Hill Consulting, we handle encroachment agreements as part of our full sign permit management service. We determine whether an encroachment is triggered, measure the encroachment dimensions, prepare the application package for Transportation Services, coordinate the insurance certificate with your insurer, and track the approval through to completion.
If you're not sure whether your sign crosses the property line, or if you need help identifying where the property line falls relative to your building, get in touch. We'll assess the situation before you commit to an application.
Phone: 437-833-7817
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