Published 12 September 2026 · By Jatin Dua, Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty
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Get My Free Estimate →Some dental permits sit on the dentist and some sit on the room, and the ones that sit on the room behave in ways that reward you for leaving the space alone. The RCDSO’s own x-ray guidance says it plainly: “If you have purchased a practice from another dentist and do not renovate, the pre-existing plans, if already approved by the Director of X-ray Safety, will suffice.” Renovate and you are back for re-approval. Meanwhile a sedation facility permit is non-transferable and, on a sale, “the facility permit will be cancelled effective on the date of sale/move.” So the renovation you were planning for month three is a regulatory event, not a decorating decision.
The premises is where a dental purchase quietly goes wrong
Buyers spend their diligence budget on charts and their negotiating energy on price. Then they take possession and discover that the sedation permit died at closing, the eyewash station is in the wrong place, the landlord will not consent to the wall they want to move, and the City wants a new pollution prevention plan because they added two chairs.
None of that is obscure. All of it is published. It just is not in the listing.
I read the premises before the offer goes out, because the premises is the part you cannot renegotiate afterwards. A patient list can be grown. A sterilisation room with no one-directional workflow has to be rebuilt, and rebuilding it triggers three other approvals.
The x-ray plan is the best news in this file, provided you do nothing
Dental x-ray equipment in Ontario sits under the Healing Arts Radiation Protection Act. All dental x-ray machines must be registered by the owner. New installations are approved by the X-ray Inspection Service, and written approval comes from the provincial Director of X-ray Safety. A dentist must act as Radiation Protection Officer for the facility, and the RCDSO notes that inspectors visit on average every three to five years.
Here is the sentence that matters to a buyer, from the College’s own article: “If you have purchased a practice from another dentist and do not renovate, the pre-existing plans, if already approved by the Director of X-ray Safety, will suffice.”
Read that as a buyer and two things fall out. First, ask the seller for the approved plans. Not a verbal assurance that the machines are registered — the actual written approval. If it does not exist, you are not inheriting an approval, you are inheriting a problem. Second, the protection you inherit is conditional on not renovating. Renovation requires re-approval.
So the fit-out you sketched on a napkin during the walkthrough has a cost you have not counted: the time and expense of putting revised plans back through the X-ray Inspection Service, before you can operate in the reconfigured space.
A cone-beam CT scanner needs a permit on the office, not on you
This one catches buyers who assume a scanner is just an expensive piece of equipment on the asset list.
The RCDSO states that “any office where a dentist wishes to install and operate a dental CT scanner must have a permit issued by the College.” The permit attaches to the office. Permitted offices “are re-inspected every three (3) years,” and permits renew annually.
Three questions for the seller, in writing: does this office hold a current CT permit, when was the last inspection, and when does the permit renew. If the answer to the first is no and there is a scanner in the corner, you have found something. If the last inspection was 34 months ago, you have found your first-quarter capital expense.
A sedation facility permit dies on the closing date
This is the hardest edge in the whole premises file and it is stated without qualification.
The College’s position is that “sedation facility permits are non-transferable,” and on a sale or a move “the facility permit will be cancelled effective on the date of sale/move.” Facility re-inspections run every 36 months.
If sedation revenue is part of why you are paying what you are paying, that revenue has a gap in it on day one. The permit does not lapse quietly at renewal; it is cancelled on the date of sale. A buyer who intends to keep offering sedation needs to understand the College’s application and inspection process before closing, not after, and needs to decide whether the sedation component of the seller’s revenue belongs in the price at all given the interruption.
The infection control standard has hard physical requirements
The RCDSO’s Standard of Practice on Infection Prevention and Control, approved in November 2018, is usually read as a clinical document. Parts of it are a building specification, and those are the parts that decide whether the premises you are buying works as-is.
From the standard: “there must be easy access to a sink that is used for no other purpose than hand washing.” The instrument reprocessing area “must provide for one-directional workflow of instruments with clear separation of dirty and clean sides.” In clinical areas, “cloth furnishings and carpeting must not be used.” A plumbed or self-contained eye-wash station “must be situated within a 10-second walk (i.e. 16 to 17 metres) of the reprocessing area.” Sterilizers must be CSA approved. Waterlines must be flushed a minimum of two minutes each workday.
Walk the space with that list in your hand. A dedicated hand-washing sink is a plumbing question. One-directional reprocessing workflow is a layout question and often the most expensive thing on the list, because fixing it means moving casework and drains. Carpet in a clinical area is a flooring replacement. The eyewash distance is measurable with a tape and your own two feet.
Every one of those is cheaper to discover in a conditional period than in an inspection.
| Approval or requirement | What it attaches to | What happens on a purchase |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Registration | The individual dentist | Personal, annual, does not transfer |
| X-ray plan approval (HARP) | The installation and premises | Pre-existing approved plans suffice if you do not renovate |
| Dental CT scanner permit | The office | Office must hold a College permit; re-inspected every 3 years, renewed annually |
| Sedation facility permit | The facility | Non-transferable; cancelled effective on the date of sale |
| Amalgam separator and Toronto P2 plan | The facility and its drains | One-time P2 plan; new plan if location or operations change |
| Building Code occupancy / change of use | The building | Permit needed for a change of use; zoning compliance required regardless |
| Lease | The tenant entity | Assignment needs consent where the lease says so |
The amalgam separator, and Toronto’s pollution prevention plan trap
The RCDSO’s position is direct: “you must have an ISO approved amalgam separator if you will be placing, repairing and/or removing amalgam.”
In Toronto the requirement has a paper trail attached to it. Under the City’s sewers by-law and its Pollution Prevention (P2) Program, dental offices handling amalgam “are required to install and properly maintain an amalgam separator,” must “submit a one-time P2 Plan using the Dental Facilities P2 Form,” must submit maintenance invoices, and must “submit a new P2 Plan if location or operations change (i.e. increase in the number of chairs).”
That last clause is the trap, and it is stated in the City’s own words. Adding chairs is exactly what a buyer does when the practice is growing. It is an operations change, and it means filing a new P2 plan. The obligation sits in Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 681, and it runs with the facility, not with the previous owner’s good intentions.
So on diligence: ask for the separator make and model, the filed P2 plan, and the maintenance invoices. If the seller cannot produce the filed plan, assume you are filing one. If your business case involves more chairs, assume you are filing another one.
The short version
Sort the premises approvals into three piles. The ones that follow the dentist — registration — you cannot buy. The ones that follow the room and survive if you leave it alone — the approved x-ray plan — you protect by not renovating until you have planned the re-approval. The one that dies at closing no matter what you do — the sedation facility permit — you price for. Then walk the space against the infection control requirements with a tape measure, and find out what Toronto has on file about the drains.
Renovating engages the accessibility standards
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act applies to every business with at least one employee, so it applies to a dental office from day one. Policies, staff training on the Human Rights Code and accessible customer service, accessible employment practices and information on request are all in scope at one to nineteen employees, with no compliance report required at that size. At twenty or more employees you must file an accessibility compliance report every three years, and the next deadline is 31 December 2026.
The part that interacts with your renovation is the Design of Public Spaces standards. Those apply to public spaces “newly constructed or redeveloped,” and the regulation defines “redeveloped” as “planned significant alterations to public spaces, but does not include maintenance activities, environmental mitigation or environmental restoration.” That definition is the test. Repainting the reception is maintenance. Reconfiguring it is a planned significant alteration.
The standards cover exterior paths of travel, accessible off-street parking, waiting areas and service counters. Note how the service counter obligation is triggered: “when constructing new service counters, which includes replacing existing service counters.” Replacing the reception desk is not a neutral act. Small organisations came into the compliance schedule on 1 January 2018; large organisations on 1 January 2017. Barrier-free requirements for the inside of the building sit in the Ontario Building Code rather than the accessibility regulation, which is your designer’s problem to solve and worth raising early.
Change of use, and why zoning bites even without a permit
If the unit you are buying into was not previously a dental office, you have a change of use question before you have a design question.
Section 10(1) of the Building Code Act, 1992 provides that “even though no construction is proposed, no person shall change the use of a building or part of a building or permit the use to be changed if the change would result in an increase in hazard, as determined in accordance with the building code, unless a permit has been issued by the chief building official.” The City of Toronto states the requirement more bluntly than the statute does: “even if no construction is proposed, if a change of use is proposed a building permit is required.” Inside the City, treat Toronto’s version as the operating rule and confirm with the chief building official.
The other half of that page matters just as much: “even if a building permit is not required, compliance with the Zoning Bylaw is required.” And a chief building official cannot issue a permit where the building as proposed would contravene the Act, the Code “or any other applicable law” — which is the hook that makes zoning a permit condition rather than a separate errand.
Toronto’s city-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013 is not the whole answer either. Some properties remain subject to former municipal by-laws, and some provisions are under appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal and are not in full force and effect. Never conclude a use is permitted on the strength of the interactive map. The City sells formal reviews for a reason, and I use a zoning condition so the answer arrives before the deal is firm rather than after. If work is needed, a building permit condition does the same job for the Code side.
The lease decides what you are allowed to build
Everything above assumes you can do the work. The lease decides that.
Read the alterations clause, the restoration obligation at the end of term, the assignment clause, the use clause and whatever the landlord has said about plumbing and drains. A dental fit-out is plumbing-heavy and drain-heavy in a way most commercial fit-outs are not, and a landlord who has never had a dental tenant may not have contemplated an amalgam separator in the base building. Ontario’s Commercial Tenancies Act deems an assignment covenant to carry a proviso that consent will not be unreasonably withheld, but only “unless the lease contains an express provision to the contrary” — so the reasonableness standard is not guaranteed. I go through this in more detail in my note on commercial lease clauses.
Also check parking. Patients arrive by car and leave sedated more often than in most tenancies, and parking rights in a plaza are frequently weaker than tenants assume. My note on parking clauses covers what to look for.
How I sequence the premises review
Get the lease and read the alterations and assignment clauses. Get the seller’s approvals: x-ray plan approval, CT permit if there is a scanner, sedation facility permit, separator model, filed P2 plan and maintenance invoices. Walk the clinical space against the infection control requirements. Confirm the lawful use and occupancy with the City rather than with the listing. Decide, only then, whether you are renovating in year one — because if you are, the x-ray re-approval, the Code, the accessibility standards and the landlord all join the deal.
I am a broker. I do not certify compliance and I do not design fit-outs. What I do is make sure the questions get asked while you still have a condition to rely on.
Does the seller’s x-ray approval transfer to me?
Effectively yes, if you leave the space alone. The RCDSO’s guidance says that if you have purchased a practice from another dentist and do not renovate, the pre-existing plans, if already approved by the Director of X-ray Safety, will suffice. Renovation requires re-approval. Machines must be registered by the owner, and a dentist must act as Radiation Protection Officer. Ask for the written approval document during diligence — if nobody can produce it, you are not inheriting an approval.
Can I keep offering sedation after I buy the practice?
Not on the seller’s permit. The College states that sedation facility permits are non-transferable and that on a sale or move the facility permit “will be cancelled effective on the date of sale/move.” Facility re-inspections run every 36 months. If sedation revenue is material to your price, work out the College’s application and inspection requirements before you close, and decide whether that revenue should be discounted for the interruption.
Is the cone-beam CT scanner just equipment on the asset list?
No. The RCDSO requires that any office where a dentist wishes to install and operate a dental CT scanner must have a permit issued by the College. The permit is tied to the office, permitted offices are re-inspected every three years, and permits renew annually. Confirm in writing that the office holds a current permit, when the last inspection occurred, and when the permit renews. A scanner sitting in an unpermitted office is a finding, not a feature.
What physical features does the infection control standard actually require?
The ones a buyer can check on a walkthrough: easy access to a sink used for no purpose other than hand washing; a reprocessing area providing one-directional instrument workflow with clear separation of dirty and clean sides; no cloth furnishings or carpeting in clinical areas; and a plumbed or self-contained eyewash station within a 10-second walk, which the standard quantifies as 16 to 17 metres of the reprocessing area. Sterilizers must be CSA approved. Waterlines are flushed a minimum of two minutes each workday.
Do I have to file anything with the City about amalgam?
In Toronto, yes. The City requires dental offices handling amalgam to install and properly maintain an amalgam separator, to submit a one-time P2 Plan using the Dental Facilities P2 Form, to submit maintenance invoices, and to submit a new P2 Plan if location or operations change, which the City illustrates as an increase in the number of chairs. The obligation sits under Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 681. Ask for the filed plan and the invoices during diligence.
If I add two chairs, what triggers?
At minimum, a new P2 plan in Toronto — the City lists an increase in the number of chairs as an operations change requiring a new filing. Depending on the work, you may also re-open the x-ray plan approval, because the College’s protection for pre-existing plans is conditional on not renovating. Construction engages the Building Code and, where public space or service counters are involved, the AODA Design of Public Spaces standards. And the lease alterations clause governs whether you can do it at all.
Does AODA apply to a small dental office?
Yes. The accessibility rules apply to every business with at least one employee. At one to nineteen employees you need accessibility policies, staff training on the Human Rights Code and accessible customer service, accessible employment and information practices, and accessible public spaces for new construction and renovations — but no compliance report. At twenty or more employees you must file a compliance report every three years, and the next deadline is 31 December 2026.
The space was an office, not a clinic. Is that a problem?
It is a question to answer before you are committed. The Building Code Act requires a permit for a change of use, even with no construction, where the change would increase hazard as determined under the Code, and Toronto states the permit requirement for a change of use unconditionally. Separately, compliance with the zoning by-law is required whether or not a permit is. Use a City review rather than the interactive map, because some properties sit under former by-laws and some provisions are under appeal.
Sources
- Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario — X-ray equipment, HARP Act requirements and plan approval
- RCDSO — Dental CT Scanner Inspection Program
- RCDSO — Sedation and anesthesia facility inspections and permits
- RCDSO — Standard of Practice: Infection Prevention and Control in the Dental Office
- City of Toronto — Pollution Prevention (P2) Program
- City of Toronto — Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 681, Sewers
- City of Toronto — When Do I Need a Building Permit?
- Government of Ontario — Accessibility rules for businesses and non-profits
LOOKING AT A DENTAL SPACE OR A PRACTICE WITH A LEASE ATTACHED?
I read the lease, the use permissions and the premises approvals before you commit, and I build the conditions that let you walk if the room does not work. Toronto, Etobicoke, Mississauga and the west GTA.
Book a 15-minute call or call or text 833-330-1925.
I cannot certify infection control compliance or approve an x-ray plan — that is the College and the Director of X-ray Safety. I can make sure you asked them before closing.
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Jatin Dua is Broker of Record and co-founder of RE/MAX Quantum Realty, Brokerage, Unit 101, 799 The Queensway, Etobicoke. Four-plus years in the GTA and more than $100M in sales volume. He works on commercial and business purchases across Toronto and the west GTA.
This is general professional commentary from a Broker of Record on commercial and business acquisitions in Ontario. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice, and it does not create any professional relationship. Whether a licence transfers, how a purchase should be structured, what tax applies and what a regulator will require on your particular file are questions for your lawyer, your accountant and the regulator itself. Rules, fees and published requirements change — verify anything you intend to rely on against the primary source on the day you rely on it.