KYRAX
Free zoning check · 9 Lower Mainland cities
BC changed the rules. Most single-family lots in the Lower Mainland can now add a self-contained laneway home, garden suite or coach house. Check your lot in two minutes, free.
In 2023 the province passed new small-scale housing legislation (Bill 44). Every Lower Mainland municipality had to update its zoning to match, and a detached suite is now permitted on most standard single-family lots. A zoning code is not the whole answer, though: setbacks, trees, existing suites and utility connections all decide whether one actually fits. That is what the free lot check screens for.
Talk to a real person: 1-888-337-1413
The rules change at every city line. These pages set out each municipality's bylaw, zone by zone, with every statement linked to the document it came from and the date it was last checked.
Every city's official zoning map — where each municipality publishes its map, what it shows, and which ones make you accept terms before they open. Step by step: how to find your zoning on Surrey's COSMOS, Coquitlam's QtheMap, Maple Ridge's RidgeView, the District of North Vancouver's GEOweb and White Rock's WROMS.
Bill 44 and SSMUH, city by city — what the province required, and how each of the nine municipalities actually implemented it, with the date each bylaw was read.
Laneway house, garden suite or coach house? — mostly one building under nine municipal names, and the places where a bylaw genuinely separates them.
What a laneway home costs, and what it rents for — the build range, what actually moves it, the one city charge anyone has published, and each municipality's rent figure with the survey it came from.
Prefab garden suites: what Surrey's guidebook says — the City's own cost figures, its five stages and the space a unit needs. And CSA A277 and Z240 MH, explained — what the certification on a factory-built suite covers, and what it leaves to your lot.
What actually pays for a laneway home in BC — the federal loan programme most people have heard of was cancelled before it opened, the provincial one closed to new applications in 2025, and the refinance that does exist has a $2 million cap that bites in this market. Every figure cited.
Enter an address and the check answers for that specific lot, naming the bylaw each reason rests on. Where the municipality publishes parcel and zoning data it reads that data directly and tests whether a suite of the permitted size fits behind the existing house; where no such feed exists — Richmond, today — it answers from the city's rules and says so rather than implying a certainty it does not have. It reports what it could not establish as plainly as what it could. Pre-screening only — not a permit determination.
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Zoning and parcel data from each municipality's open-data services and the Province of British Columbia, used under the Open Government Licence.
In 2023 the province passed new small-scale housing legislation (Bill 44). Every Lower Mainland municipality had to update its zoning to match. A detached laneway home, garden suite or coach house is now permitted on most standard single-family lots.
{{ rulesVerifiedLine }} A zoning code isn't the whole answer. Setbacks, trees, existing suites and utility connections all matter. Your free lot check screens for exactly that.
Rather read the rules first? Each city's zoning, zone by zone, with every rule cited: Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, Delta, New Westminster, Langley City, Langley Township and Vancouver. Not sure which zone you are in? Find it on your City's own map.
For decades your backyard was off-limits. Provincial legislation changed that, and the last municipal compliance deadline passed on June 30, 2026. The lots are legal now. The permit queues just keep getting longer.
What laneway homes rent for across the Lower Mainland today. A mortgage helper you own, on land you already own.
Aging parents next door instead of across town. Adult kids who can actually stay in the Lower Mainland. Everyone keeps their independence.
Most builders make you sit through a sales call to hear a number. Here's ours up front. Where it lands depends on size, finishes and, the wildcard, your lot's utility connections. Tap any segment to open the book.
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Ranges dated July 2026 and tied to real supplier quotes, so they won't hold forever. Line items shown are illustrative placeholders.
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Homeowners can refinance up to 90% of their home's improved value — the value including the new suite — amortized up to 30 years, to pay for building it. CMHC names a laneway home as a qualifying suite. Two conditions decide it here: the as-improved value must stay under $2 million, and the financing has to be approved before construction starts.
Fast and flexible, interest-only while you build. Draw as each stage completes, which is exactly how our billing works.
Your lender releases funds as inspections confirm each stage. Our progress-draw structure was built to match it.
Every lot is different: lane width, trees, slopes, access. We match the build method to your property, and we build on site. Your home goes up where it will stand, gets inspected by the municipality at every required stage, and carries the same 2-5-10 home warranty as any new home in BC.
Most construction quotes are a black box. Ours is open-book: every supplier invoice, every trade, visible to you, with our management fee stated up front and capped. Prefer a single locked number? A fixed-price contract is available too. Your call, and we'll walk you through the trade-off honestly.
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Suite income covers a painful chunk of the mortgage, month after month. (Figures illustrative; your report uses your numbers.)
Mom keeps her independence; you keep her close. Single-level, step-free layouts available, including culturally informed options like Vastu-aligned floor plans.
Your kid gets a real home in the Lower Mainland. You keep the equity in the family.
Move into the laneway, rent the main house. Same street, same neighbours, new cash flow.
Our first Lower Mainland placements are Founders Builds: priced at founders rates, and documented publicly at every stage: design, permits, inspections, invoices, the lot. If you want to see exactly how a builder works before you hire one, this is the closest look you'll get. Founders pricing is tied to our current supplier quotes and holds for agreements signed while those quotes are valid.
Founders placements at founders pricing, every stage published from start to keys.
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Free, in 2 minutes. No sales pitch. You get a zoning check, a size allowance, an honest cost range, and a real person on the phone, usually within the hour.
Prefer to talk first? Call {{ phone }}. A person answers.
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Start typing and pick your address. We figure out the city from it and run your lot check while you answer a few quick questions.
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Used only to run your lot check. Never sold, never spammed.
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✓ Noted — a specialist will double-check this line.
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None of these are refusals. They are the questions a specialist closes with you before anything is designed.
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Re-checking your lot...
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