Appellant/Public User FAQs

Apart from meeting your appeal deadline, there is no technical limit to how long you can leave a draft unfinished.

Check the notice of decision that was issued by the municipality/approval authority – a case type is the subject of the application that is being considered (for example, zoning by-law amendment, minor variance, land severance, motion, etc.). If you don’t know the case type, you can check the case type chart on our website, which shows the different case types and their corresponding legislation and section number. In e-file, you can also search for the legislation and section number first, and the case type should auto-filter when you select the magnifying glass on the Case Type search field.

If there is no clear legislation listed for your matter, you can select the “Legislation not listed” checkbox, and a case coordinator will review your submission to advise of next steps. You will be prompted to identify the subject of your appeal on a later screen as you proceed through the appeal smart form.

You can only select one appeal type at a time (e.g., Zoning, Official Plan Amendment and Site Plan). We are working on a multi-selection option for a future release of e-file.

You should merge the two sets of documentation in e-file:

• scan any documentation received on paper
• upload the documents as attachments to your case package in e-file
• include a note with the name of the appellant(s) who submitted duplicate appeals.

Yes. A delay in payment does not hinder meeting an appeal deadline. However, once received by OLT staff, the appeal won’t be processed until payment is received.

The Tribunal considers appeals related to different instruments as separate but related cases. Each would receive its own OLT case number with one being the lead case. For example, you would have to create:

• one case for the Official Plan Amendment (with all related appeals grouped); and
• another case for the Zoning By-Law Amendment (with all related appeals grouped).

You can then connect a case to a related case. There are two ways of doing this:

• If the case has already been submitted to OLT, use the “Related Case” look-up function in e-file. The option to add a related case appears near the end of the case submission process flow after you have uploaded your documents.
• If you are submitting two related cases at the same time, please make a note in the “Additional Information” section or add as a note in a cover letter that you upload/attach to the submission.

This is not currently available within e-file. However, this is something we are considering for a future upgrade. You may contact the Ontario Land Tribunal to request a copy of the approval authority submission.

No. If you have edits or documents to add, please contact the approval authority directly at the contact indicated in their notice of decision. They should be able to make any corrections for you. Otherwise, you can discuss further with the Tribunal once your case has been opened.

No. If you wish to withdraw a submitted appeal, please contact the approval authority by phone or email to notify them of your withdrawal. They will notify the Ontario Land Tribunal accordingly, and a refund will be issued if applicable. If you have been notified that an OLT Case Coordinator has been assigned to your case, then you can submit your withdrawal directly to the Case Coordinator.

You can submit the appeal to the Tribunal through e-file to resolve. Provide an explanation in the “additional information” section or in your cover letter. We are working on developing a better solution for this scenario in a future release.

Yes. The PDF and HTML version of the appeal form is still available, e.g., to save on your hard drives, and can be submitted directly to the approval authority office using whichever methods are indicated on their notices, such as via mail or in person.

E-file meets all Ontario government standards for privacy and security.

Yes. E-file will allow you to save drafts and return to them later. For multiple users from the firm to access drafts, users will have to share the same account (log-in and password).

Yes. There is an option to save the appeal draft before you submit the appeal. You can download a PDF copy of the draft appeal, which can be shared externally with the client, as needed.