Can I add a legal secondary suite in my basement in Vancouver?
In many cases, yes, subject to zoning: the City of Vancouver allows 1 secondary suite per single-family home, requires a permit to add or legalize one, and treats a suite as a legal dwelling unit only once it has been approved through permitting and has passed final inspection.
The City defines a secondary suite as an approved dwelling unit with its own kitchen and living area and separate external access, inside a larger one-family or two-family dwelling. It may share internal access with the main unit.1
The rules the City states
- One secondary suite per single-family home under the Zoning and Development
By-law; a third suite is not allowed.1
- A duplex may have two suites, one per primary dwelling unit, but suites in
duplexes and two-family homes are not approved in every zone.1
- A secondary suite cannot be strata titled.1
- A suite not approved through the City's permitting process is not a legal
dwelling unit and is not eligible for a short-term or long-term rental licence.1
- The suite must comply with all City by-laws before it can be legalized;
those items are usually dealt with during the permit application.1
- Adding a secondary suite to an existing house is on the City's list of work
that requires a permit.2
The process
The City sets it out in four steps: confirm suites are allowed in your area, prepare plans and submit the permit application with fees, build under the trade permits and book inspections, then complete construction and check whether you need a business licence.1 The suite is not legal until the final inspection has passed. Questions about legalizing an existing suite go to the City's secondary suite office.1
Two things buyers and sellers miss
If you buy a home with a suite, you are responsible for any work done without a permit, even by a previous owner; the City offers an approved-use letter to confirm whether the suite in a home is permitted.1 And removing a suite is not a matter of pulling out the stove: the City requires the appropriate permits before the cooking facilities are removed.1
What the review is looking for
On our projects the items that decide a suite are egress from the bedroom, the fire separation between the suite and the main house, ceiling height, and the electrical capacity of the panel. Bedroom egress has its own code article; the figures are on the egress window page. A full conversion including permit review has taken three to five months from application to occupancy on our jobs.
One question per page. The first sentence is the answer. When a figure changes, the page changes and the verified date moves. All answers.