Registered, retrofitted or merely described
Sort every suite you see into one of three groups. A registered unit appears on the City's two-unit house register, has closed building permits for the fire separation, egress windows and plumbing, and passed an Electrical Safety Authority inspection; ask for the registration and the permit search, and have the team confirm both with the City. A retrofitted unit has some of that work done, usually the fire separation and interconnected smoke alarms under the Ontario Fire Code, but was never registered, which leaves you exposed if a complaint or an insurance claim arrives. A described unit is a finished basement with a stove and a door, and should be priced as exactly that. Oshawa reportedly allows additional residential units across most low-density zones with conditions on parking and lot size, and the streets near the north campus reportedly fall under a rental housing licensing bylaw. If a tenant is in place, the lease and its terms transfer to you under Ontario's tenancy law, so read it before you offer.