Secondary (Legal) Suites
A secondary (or legal) suite is a complete living unit with its own kitchen, sleeping area, and washroom facilities contained within another dwelling. The two dwelling units (the primary residence and the secondary suite) and any common spaces make up a single real estate entity that cannot be stratified or otherwise legally separated from the other.
Secondary suites are permitted in most single detached and some side-by-side attached homes across British Columbia and come with many benefits such as providing homes for aging parents, adult children or other family members, helping to pay a mortgage or investing in existing property and contributing to more long-term rental housing in communities.
Local government zoning and planning requirements, as well as certain building codes, and building permit requirements would dictate if a secondary suite can be built on a property and what building codes would apply. In the City of Vancouver (municipality), the Vancouver Building By-laws (VBBL) will apply. Elsewhere in BC, the British Columbia Building Codes (BCBC) is applicable.
There are very rigid building code and building permit requirements for converting an existing space into a secondary (or legal) suite. The newer the single-family dwelling containing the space for conversion, the easier it may be to do so. The older the single-family dwelling, the greater the number of requirements. There are also different types of secondary suites as shown in the graphic below.
Types of Secondary Suites
Building in Richmond – What Makes It Different
Richmond follows the BC Building Code rather than the Vancouver Building By-Laws, but the bigger difference here is not the code. It is the ground.
Flood Construction Levels. Richmond sits on the Fraser delta, and the City sets minimum elevations for habitable space through its Flood Plain Construction Level requirements. Older homes frequently sit below the current standard, which directly affects what can be done with a basement or ground-floor addition. This is the single most common reason a Richmond renovation plan has to be redesigned, and it is worth establishing before you commit to a layout.
High water table and soft soil. Perimeter drainage, waterproofing and sump capacity are not optional extras on a Richmond basement – they are the difference between a finished space and a recurring problem. We assess drainage before quoting any below-grade work.
Agricultural Land Reserve. A substantial portion of east Richmond sits within the ALR, which carries its own restrictions on what can be built and on secondary suites specifically. If your property is in the ALR, that needs checking before design begins.
The permit process. A building permit is required for new construction, demolition, many alterations and additions, adding a secondary suite, and any change of use or occupancy. Richmond runs applications through its MyPermit portal, and applications are reviewed in parallel by Building, Planning, Trees and Engineering – so an incomplete tree or drainage submission holds up the whole file. Tree removal and demolition applications can be submitted concurrently with the building permit to save time. Permit fees increase on January 1 each year.
We work throughout Steveston, Seafair, Terra Nova, Broadmoor and Brighouse, and we handle the full application on your behalf.
For Comparison – The Vancouver Requirements
Homeowners often ask how Richmond compares to Vancouver. The City of Vancouver applies the VBBL, whose basic guidelines for creating a secondary occupancy include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Paperwork: development and building permits, with separate electrical, plumbing and gas permits for the trades.
- The space itself: a single suite per home, sized between 400 sq. ft. and the floor area of the main dwelling, with its floor set no deeper than 6′ below outside ground level.
- Ceilings: at least 6′-6″ of headroom over every exit route and over 80% of the suite’s floor area.
- Fire safety: interconnected, hard-wired smoke and CO alarms with battery back-up and one in every bedroom, 1/2″ gypsum board or sound plaster between the two units, and solid-core self-closing doors where they connect.
- Exiting: bar-free bedroom windows opening at least 3.77 sq. ft., exit doors that are never locked or blocked from outside, and a 3′-wide hard path from the street to the suite door for emergency crews.
- Building services: an electrical service large enough for both homes, the required outlets in kitchen, bedrooms and living room with GFCI protection near water, code-compliant plumbing and gas venting, and a strapped hot water tank.
- Site: parking on the property for both the house and the suite.
As a general rule, Richmond works under the BC Building Code, which covers the same ground but is less demanding than the VBBL on several of these points. In Richmond, though, flood construction levels and drainage often shape a suite more than the code differences do. Specifics will vary from one property to the next, which is why we confirm elevation, zoning and code requirements for your home before design starts.
The graphic below shows a pictorial summary of the different code requirements for secondary suites (and legal basements).
Summary of the different code requirements for secondary suites.
