Can I build a bunkie or guest cottage on my property in BC?

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Only where the zone says so: some bylaws allow a small guest cottage or guest house beside the house, others say no accessory building may be lived in at all. BC has no province-wide rule for a bunkie or sleeping cabin: each zoning bylaw decides whether a detached building may be slept in, by whom, how big and for how many days. A kitchen or bathroom can make it a second home in the bylaw's eyes, and a building permit depends on its size and what's in it. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. The zone decides: A zoning bylaw lists the uses and buildings each zone allows. Some list a guest cottage, guest house or seasonal cottage beside the house, with its own size and stay limits; many say an accessory building is for storage or a workshop and may not be lived in (our reading of the bylaws we've summarised). A guest house allowed: The RDEK's SweetWater bylaw allows, in its large-lot zone, a guest house: an accessory building under 50 m² with at most two sleeping units, not meant to be lived in year round, up to 7 m tall (Bylaw No. 2127 s. 3.03). A guest cottage with limits: Piers Island's bylaw allows one detached auxiliary guest cottage of up to 37 m² per lot, for visitors who live elsewhere and stay free of charge, each for no more than 45 days a year and 30 in a row (Bylaw No. 373 s. 3.8). Salt Spring's allows a seasonal cottage of up to 56 m² only on a lot of 1.2 ha or more, for temporary stays, never rented apart from a bed and breakfast (Bylaw No. 355 s. 3.14). Not lived in at all: Salt Spring's bylaw says no accessory building may be lived in unless the bylaw allows it, and none may hold a kitchen, shower or bath (Bylaw No. 355 ss. 3.12.3 to 3.12.5). Hornby's has no guest cottage and lets no accessory building be lived in; housing a relative beside the house takes a temporary use permit (Bylaw No. 150 ss. 3.2 (1) (c), 10.2 (6)). Kitchen and bathroom: Many bylaws define a dwelling unit by its cooking facilities, so a bunkie with a kitchen can count as a second home and take the zone's limit on homes (our reading). Where a zone allows a second home or a detached suite, that route has its own rules: see a suite or a second home. A local government's house zones must allow a secondary suite or a detached second home (Local Government Act s. 481.3 (3)), but that floor doesn't apply under the Islands Trust, a rural land use bylaw or on ALR land (see small-scale housing). The building permit: Where a building bylaw applies, its own size rule decides: the City of Nanaimo, for one, needs no permit for a detached building under 10 m² that creates no hazard, though it must meet the zone's setbacks and height; plumbing, or heating and insulation, bring requirements like a house's, and an accessory building isn't allowed without a house or other principal use (its accessory building handout, revised March 2025). Many rural areas have no building inspection at all: see building permits. Septic and water: A bunkie with a toilet or sink adds flow to the septic system, and a bedroom outside the house can count toward its design: see a suite on a septic system (our reading). Renting it out: Renting a bunkie by the night is a short-term rental: the zone and the principal residence rule decide it (see short-term rentals). Piers Island's and Salt Spring's bylaws above bar renting the cottage to travellers. On ALR land: A sleeping building on ALR land counts against the reserve's limits on homes and accommodation (our reading): see the ALR and a suite or a second home. What a report shows: A report names the lot's zone where the local map is open and, for the bylaws we've summarised, how many homes the zone allows and its notes on guest cottages and accessory buildings.

Can I build a bunkie or guest cottage on my property in BC?

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