Orleans is Ottawa’s largest suburban community by population, spread across the Orléans East-Cumberland, Orléans West-Innes, and Orléans South-Navan wards, with a housing history that runs from 1970s-era streets near St. Joseph Boulevard to newer developments still filling in toward Cumberland and Navan.
A basement in Orleans at the drywall stage. The ceiling and bulkheads are boarded, sheets are going up on the walls, and the cutting station is set up on the floor to fit each piece on site.
The neighbourhoods closest to the Ottawa River and St. Joseph Boulevard – areas like Convent Glen and Fallingbrook – were largely built out through the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, on lots that generally run larger than what's typical in Ottawa's newest subdivisions. That combination of age and lot size makes both basement apartment legalization and detached garden suites realistic options here, depending on what the individual property's basement ceiling height and rear yard depth allow.
Sections built since the 2000s – parts of Avalon, Fallingbrook's later phases, and the areas pushing toward Cumberland – tend to have tighter lot sizes and setbacks than Orleans' older core, which shifts the practical ADU options toward basement conversion or a smaller-footprint coach house rather than a full-size detached garden suite.
Orleans' lot sizes and setbacks vary between its older core and newer phases – the first step on any property is a site visit to measure your actual lot and confirm what your specific zoning allows.
Because so much of Orleans' housing predates current Additional Dwelling Unit zoning, a meaningful share of the basement apartments already in use here were built before permits were required or before current fire and egress standards existed. Legalizing one of these units usually means an assessment of what's already built against today's code, then targeted upgrades – not a full teardown and rebuild – to bring it into compliance.
We assess the existing space against current egress, fire separation, and ceiling height requirements, then scope only the work needed to close any gaps before filing a retroactive building permit. See our legalization service for the full process.
Orleans sits close to CFB Rockcliffe and within a reasonable commute of several federal government campuses on the east side of the city, which has historically supported steady rental demand for secondary suites here – both from military and federal personnel posted to the area on shorter-term assignments and from the broader east-end rental market.
Place d'Orléans and the surrounding St. Joseph Boulevard corridor give Orleans its own commercial centre, separate from downtown, which is part of why the community has long supported a steady local rental market rather than depending entirely on downtown commuters.