What signs does my private property need for parking enforcement?
You need signs that meet your municipality's by-law before anyone can ticket or tow on your property, whether that's a private enforcement agency or municipal by-law enforcement.
If your signs don't meet the by-law, no enforcement can legally happen on your property at all, and most buildings only find that out when a driver challenges a ticket and wins.
In Toronto, your property also has to be inspected and approved before any vehicle can be towed. That approval comes from Toronto Police Parking Enforcement, Contract Services Section. They are the delegated authority for every private parking enforcement agency working on private property in Toronto. Outside Toronto, the by-law enforcement agency for that municipality runs its own approval process.
For this article, we'll reference Toronto's parking by-law, Chapter 915.
Why the sign is what makes a ticket hold
Two short sections do the work. Section 915-2B says nobody may park on private property without the owner's permission. On its own, that would mean proving permission was missing for every single car.
Section 915-2C fixes that, but only if signs exist. Where the owner has posted signs setting out the parking conditions, a car parked against those conditions is deemed to have been parked without permission.
That one word is the whole reason signs matter. With valid signs, the sign settles it. Without them, there is nothing to enforce against.
What Toronto requires before a vehicle can be towed
Towing needs a second layer of approval on top of your signs. Section 915-5A says all of the following must be true before a vehicle can be removed:
- The boundaries of your property are clearly marked.
- Signs are posted with the size, wording and locations that have been approved.
- No sign on the property mentions tagging or towing unless it was approved.
- Any towing signs come down if your approval is cancelled.
- If you have permit visitor parking, signs tell visitors how to get a permit, and a permit can be obtained within thirty minutes.
- Fire route signs appear only on roadways that are actually designated fire routes by by-law.
- Any by-law named on a sign is one that is still in force.
- Toronto Police hold current details of your tow operator and the garage that stores removed vehicles.
- A vehicle owner can find out where their car was taken, at any hour.
- A vehicle owner can ask Toronto Police to review the removal.
A penalty notice must also have been issued, a thirty-minute wait must have passed, and a Toronto Police tow card must be issued (sections 915-5B, 915-5C and 915-5D).
Worth separating, because most articles blur it. This approval covers towing only. Ticketing is handled separately. A property can be ticketed under signs that satisfy section 915-2C while still not being approved for towing under section 915-5.
The thirty-minute permit rule most boards have never been shown
Section 915-5A(5) is the one that catches residential properties. If your visitor parking needs a permit, your signs have to tell visitors how to get one. A permit also has to be obtainable within a thirty-minute waiting period.
In practice that rules out any process that depends on reaching a person. Calling an office during business hours, waiting on a concierge, or leaving a message and hoping for a callback will not deliver a permit inside thirty minutes at two in the morning. Registration that issues one straight away will.
When the thirty-minute wait does not apply
Section 915-6 lists the cases where a vehicle can be towed without the wait:
- A fire route, where the roadway is designated by by-law and signed under City supervision
- An accessible parking space, where the car is parked against a by-law
- A loading space
- A driveway
- A lot with three or fewer parking spaces, unless it is a licensed commercial lot
- A resident parking space, where the resident who owns it has signed a complaint
- An employee parking space, as long as signs say so
Four signage problems the by-law expects you to have
Four of the section 915-5A conditions exist because these failures happen often enough to be written into the law. Each is worth checking on any property whose signs have been up for more than a few years.
- A sign naming a by-law that no longer exists
- Section 915-5A(7) says any by-law named on a sign must still be in force. By-laws get repealed, renumbered and replaced. The sign does not change when they do.
- Fire route signs on a roadway that was never designated
- Section 915-5A(6) allows fire route signs only on roadways actually designated as fire routes by by-law. Signs put up with good intentions do not count.
- Tagging or towing signs nobody approved
- Section 915-5A(3) says no sign may mention tagging or towing unless it was approved. A sign added later by a board, a manager, or a previous contractor can put the whole property offside.
- Towing signs left up after approval ended
- Section 915-5A(4) says towing signs must come down if your approval is cancelled. Approval lapsing is easy to miss. The signs stay up.
Outside Toronto
The rules are not the same across the 5 municipalities we work in. Each sets its own signage rules, and a sign that is valid in one is not automatically valid in another. Outside Toronto, the by-law enforcement agency for that municipality runs its own approval process.
We check every property against the by-law where it actually sits. Detailed requirements for Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon and Ottawa are being checked against each by-law before we publish them here. We would rather leave a section unwritten than publish a rule we have not read at the source.
Frequently asked
- Can I enforce parking on my property without signs?
- No. Without valid signs, nobody can issue a parking ticket on your property and no vehicle can be towed for a parking offence. Private enforcement agencies and municipal by-law enforcement both need compliant signage before they have any authority to act. Toronto Municipal Code section 915-2C is the reason: it says that where an owner has posted signs setting out parking conditions, a car parked against those conditions is deemed to have been parked without permission. Without signs there is nothing for that rule to apply to, so there is nothing to enforce.
- Who approves parking signs on private property in Toronto?
- Toronto Police Parking Enforcement, Contract Services Section. They are the delegated authority for every private parking enforcement agency working on private property in Toronto. Chapter 915 section 915-5A says a property must be inspected and approved before a vehicle can be removed from it, including signs of the size, wording and locations that have been approved.
- What is the thirty-minute permit rule for condo visitor parking?
- Section 915-5A(5) says that if your visitor parking needs a permit, your signs must tell visitors how to get one, and a permit must be obtainable within thirty minutes. A process that depends on reaching a person cannot meet that at two in the morning. Registration that issues a permit straight away can.
- Can a sign that names an old by-law still be used?
- No. Section 915-5A(7) says any by-law named on a sign must be one that is still in force. By-laws get repealed, renumbered and replaced. Signs put up years ago often name one that no longer exists, even though the sign itself still looks fine.
- Can The M6 Group cancel a ticket it issued?
- No. Cancelling or changing a penalty notice is always a decision for the municipality, through its own review process. It is never a decision for the enforcement company that issued the notice. Requests to cancel a notice go to the municipality named on it.
Have your signs checked against the by-law that applies to them
We inspect the signs on your property, check them against the by-law where the property actually sits, and give you the findings in writing. There is no charge and no obligation.
Last reviewed: 6 August 2026. Sourced to Toronto by-law Chapter 915.