Secondary (Legal) Suites
West Vancouver uses different language from its neighbours, and getting the terminology right matters. What most municipalities call a coach house, West Vancouver calls a detached secondary suite, and it is regulated under section 130.08(5) of the Zoning Bylaw.
Where they are permitted: most single family dwelling zones, with RS6 the exception, plus duplex zones RD1 and RD2. Not every lot qualifies, so zoning confirmation comes first.
The floor area exclusion is the key to whether it pencils. Where your site is within the maximum floor area for its zone, an exclusion of 74.3 square metres or 0.10 times the site area – whichever is less – is available for a detached secondary suite. For sites with a principal building permitted before 1976, the exemption may still apply even where floor area is otherwise constrained. On older Ambleside and Dundarave properties this is frequently the difference between a viable coach house and none.
One storey means a faster path. A one-storey, zoning-compliant detached secondary suite needs a building permit only. Add a basement, go to two storeys, or require any variance, and you first need a form and character Development Permit under OCP Guidelines BF-B 3.1. That single design decision changes your timeline substantially, and it is worth making deliberately rather than discovering later.
Two West Vancouver hazard rules catch a lot of projects. Any construction within 15 metres of the top of bank of a watercourse requires a development permit – relevant across much of the municipality given the creeks running down from the escarpment. So does new construction of a dwelling or coach house within the Wildfire Hazard Development Permit Area, which covers substantial parts of the British Properties, Caulfeild and the upper slopes.
Paperwork: West Vancouver requires a completed Housing Form with applications for new single family, duplex, secondary suite and detached secondary suite work, and again for demolitions. The District accepts electronic applications only. If you are demolishing an existing dwelling and building new, those are two separate permits.
We work throughout Ambleside, Dundarave, the British Properties, Caulfeild and Horseshoe Bay.
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
One of the more common conversions is from an existing single-family home basement suite into a secondary (legal) suite. Within the municipality of the City of Vancouver, the basic guidelines for creating a secondary occupancy (legal basement) within a home includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Life safety first: hard-wired, interconnected smoke and carbon monoxide alarms with battery back-up, one in each bedroom, and a fire separation of 1/2″ gypsum board or sound plaster between the suite and the main house.
- Doors and windows: self-closing solid-core connecting doors, exit doors that are never blocked or locked from outside, and bar-free bedroom windows with a clear opening of at least 3.77 sq. ft.
- Dimensions: a suite of 400 sq. ft. or more but no larger than the main dwelling, 6′-6″ of ceiling height across exit routes and 80% of the floor, and a floor no more than 6′ below outside grade.
- Access: a 3′-wide hard-surface path from the street to the suite entrance, and on-site parking for the whole property.
- Services: an electrical service able to carry both units, the required outlets and GFCI protection, properly installed plumbing and gas, and a seismically strapped hot water tank.
- Permits: development and building permits, plus electrical, plumbing and gas permits, with one suite permitted per home.
As a general rule, West Vancouver applies the BC Building Code, which deals with these same issues less strictly than the VBBL. What more often shapes a West Vancouver suite is the site itself – slope, watercourse setbacks and the wildfire hazard area – and, for detached suites, the floor area exclusion. Specifics will vary from lot to lot, so we confirm the code, zoning and hazard requirements for your property before design begins.
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.
