What do I need to build a house on bare land in BC?
A zone that allows a home, a way in, water, a septic system or sewer, and power, then a building permit where the area has building inspection; each step has its own office.
Opens the report at this answer. A PID always finds the lot; an address needs an exact match.
What the answer means
On bare land the house comes last: the land has to allow it, and water, sewage, power and a way in have to reach it, each under its own rules. The order below is the usual one (our reading), and a step that fails early, such as no room for a septic field, can stop the rest.
- 1. Can a house go here
- The zone decides whether a home is allowed and how many; on ALR land the Agricultural Land Commission's rules apply on top, and a development permit area over the lot (a hazard, a stream, a farm edge) can mean a permit before any clearing or building. A covenant on the title can limit where the house goes.
- 2. A way in
- A lot with no road along it may be reachable only across someone else's land, which holds for later owners only as a registered easement. A new driveway onto a numbered or controlled access highway needs the Ministry of Transportation and Transit's permit.
- 3. Water
- A well for the house needs no licence, but a registered well driller builds it (bar a well dug no deeper than 15 m) and files its construction report; water from a creek or spring takes a water licence. In or near a town, ask whether the lot can join community water.
- 4. Sewage
- Without sewer, a septic system or holding tank is planned by an authorized person and filed with the health authority before it's built, with setbacks from wells, water and the lot line. On rural land this is often the step that decides whether the lot takes a house (our reading).
- 5. Power and an address
- Ask the utility what a line to the house site would cost and who pays, or plan your own power. The municipality or regional district assigns a civic address, at the building permit or on request; power, 911 and mail use it.
- 6. The building permit
- Where the municipality or regional district has building inspection, a permit comes before building; where none does, the BC Building Code still applies. A new house meets at least Step 3 of the Energy Step Code and EL-1 of the Zero Carbon Step Code, or more by bylaw. Electrical and gas work take permits of their own, and development cost charges aren't due on a permit for fewer than 4 homes unless the bylaw says so.
- 7. Who builds it
- A licensed residential builder, with home warranty insurance, or you under an owner builder authorization, which lets someone build a home for their own use without either and gives later buyers a disclosure notice.
- Living on the land meanwhile
- An RV or trailer on the lot while the house goes up is the zone's to allow, sometimes only through a temporary use permit.
The order is our reading of the usual path. Each step's rules are our summaries on the pages linked below, each with its own sources and read date; local governments add steps of their own.
Source: The question pages linked below (our summaries, each with its own sources and read date).
Each step, in full
- 1. The land: zoning, homes the law allows, suites and the ALR
- Whether a house fits, and how many; development permit areas, steep ground, floodplains, streamside setbacks and covenants decide where.
- 2. A way in: road access, driveway permits and shared driveways
- Legal access, who ploughs the road, and the Ministry's permit where the driveway meets a highway.
- 3. Water: drilling a new well, testing a well, water licences and community water and sewer
- Who may drill, the well's siting and report, and when a licence is needed.
- 4. Sewage: septic and outhouses and composting toilets
- The room for a field on the lot, and who plans and files the system.
- 5. Power and an address: getting power to a lot, living off the grid and civic addresses
- What a line costs and who pays, power of your own, and the address 911 uses.
- 6. The permit: building permits, the energy step codes, electrical and gas permits and development cost charges
- Which rural areas have building inspection, how efficient the house must be, and what's charged.
- 7. The builder: new home warranty and GST on a new house
- A licensed builder's warranty or an owner builder's notice, and the tax on a new home.
- Meanwhile: RVs and tiny homes and temporary use permits
- Living on the land while you build.
Before you buy: who to ask
- The local government
- Which zone applies to this lot, and are there site-specific rules, development permit areas or official community plan policies that affect what I want to build? Is the road to the lot a public road, who maintains it, and is it ploughed in winter? (Outside towns, ask the Ministry of Transportation.)
- The seller or their agent
- Is the property on a well or community water, and on a septic system or sewer? For a well, can I see a recent flow test and water quality test; for septic, its permit and last pump-out? Has anyone tested the soil for a septic field, or applied for a building permit here?
- Your lawyer or notary
- Does the title show legal access: frontage on a public road, or a registered easement across the neighbour's land to reach it?
Look up the lot above: its report names the zone and our summary of what it allows, says whether any of it is in the ALR, and gives the road along it, the neighbours' wells and the room for a septic field.
See also before you buy rural land and a mortgage on rural land.
Buying rural land? Before you buy rural land in BC: the nine questions that decide an offer, on one printable page.