How big a shop, garage or shed can I build on my property in BC?

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Accepted Answer

The lot's zone decides: most zones allow accessory buildings beside the house, with their own setbacks, a height limit and often a cap on their floor area, which on rural lots usually grows with the lot. An accessory building is one that serves the main use of the lot: a garage, shop, barn, shed or studio beside the house. The zoning bylaw sets where it may stand, how tall it may be and, in many zones, how much floor area all of them may cover together; the building bylaw decides whether it needs a permit. A report names the lot's zone and links our summary of its rules where we have one. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. The zone decides: A zoning bylaw may regulate the siting, size and dimensions of buildings and structures, and the uses permitted on the land, zone by zone (Local Government Act s. 479). Most zones permit accessory buildings and structures to the main use, and the bylaw's general part adds rules for all of them, such as that one may not go up before the house, or that one joined to the house counts as part of it. Floor area: one example: The Thompson-Nicola Regional District's Zoning Bylaw No. 2400 lets accessory buildings on a Small Holding or Country Residential lot total 130 m² on lots of 4,000 m² or less, then 1 m² for every 20 m² of lot up to 2 ha, with no limit above 2 ha, and caps their height at 8 m on lots under 2 ha (ss. 9.6, 10.6). Other zones and other bylaws set other figures: read the lot's own zone. Setbacks and height: Accessory buildings usually take setbacks of their own, often smaller than the house's at the rear and side. In the City of Abbotsford's Rural Residential zone, for one, the house stands 7.5 m from every lot line and accessory buildings 7.5 m from the front, 1.0 m from the rear and interior side and 4.5 m from a side street, 1.5 m from the house and from each other; they go up only with or after the main building (Zoning Bylaw No. 2400-2014, ss. 140.4.1, 310). Living or working in it: A zone that allows accessory buildings doesn't make one a home. A suite, coach house or garden suite over a garage or in a shop is a dwelling the zone must allow, and a business in it must fit the zone's home occupation rules (see a suite or a second home, and running a business from home). The building permit: Whether a shed, garage or shop needs a building permit is the local government's building bylaw's call, where it has one: most exempt small sheds under a set size, and the size and conditions differ. An exempt building still has to meet the zone. Many electoral areas have no building inspection, but the zoning bylaw applies there too (see building permits). Farmland (ALR): On ALR land a barn, machine shed or other building used for the farm serves a farm use, which the reserve permits (Agricultural Land Commission Act ss. 1, 20); one used for something else, such as storage rented to others, needs the Commission's permission first. Fill or gravel placed to build a farm structure is permitted only where it covers 1,000 m² or less in all (ALR Use Regulation s. 35). Some zones also cap the non-farm buildings beside a house on ALR land: in Abbotsford they may not exceed the house's floor area (s. 140.3.9). What it means for a buyer: A shop that's there isn't allowed because it's there: ask the local government whether it holds a building permit, and whether it fits the zone's floor area, height and setbacks. If you plan a big one, check the zone's cap against the lot's size before you buy (our reading).

How big a shop, garage or shed can I build on my property in BC?

What the answer means

For one lot