PlaceDossier / Questions
Can I put a manufactured or mobile home on my land in BC?
Whether a manufactured or mobile home may go on a lot is up to its zone: many of the rural zones we've summarised allow one as the lot's house, some towns keep them to their own zones or parks, and a bylaw can set a width, a foundation or a certification label. Provincially, a manufactured home must be registered to be sold or moved, and on farmland the Agricultural Land Commission's limits apply. A report names the lot's zone and, where we've summarised the bylaw, what it allows.
The report opens at this answer, with the lot drawn on the map and every other check alongside. A PID (on the tax notice or title) always finds the lot; an address works when it's an exact match.
What the answer means
- What counts
- In BC law a manufactured home is any structure built to be lived in and to be moved by towing or carrying, on wheels or not (Manufactured Home Act s. 1). Whether a modular home built to the factory-built standard counts as a manufactured home or as a house is up to each zoning bylaw's definitions.
- Zoning
- The zoning bylaw says which zones allow a manufactured home, and many set conditions: a CSA label, a minimum width, a permanent foundation or skirting. Some towns allow them only in their own zones or in parks. In a zone for manufactured homes only, the provincial rule that a house zone must allow a suite doesn't apply (Local Government Act s. 481.3 (3.1)). Placing one usually needs a building permit for the foundation, the hook-ups and any additions.
- Standards
- A new manufactured home must meet the CSA's mobile home standard (Z240) or its factory-built housing standard (A277) to be sold or moved (Manufactured Home Act s. 32, Manufactured Home Regulation s. 2). A seller of a used home must say in writing whether it meets the standards, or that it was built on or before May 15, 1992 (s. 33). Lenders and insurers often ask for the CSA label.
- The registry
- A manufactured home must be registered with the Province's Manufactured Home Registry to be sold, offered for sale or moved (s. 18), and moving it needs a transport permit (s. 15), issued only once its property taxes are paid (s. 25). A search by serial or registration number shows the registered owner (s. 20). A home on land you buy may be registered apart from the land, so ask a lawyer or notary to search the registry and the Personal Property Registry for any loan against it.
- Farmland (ALR)
- On ALR land a manufactured home can be the lot's one home (Agricultural Land Commission Act s. 20.1), and a second home, a manufactured home included, is allowed once the lot has only one home: 90 m² or less on a lot of 40 ha or less, 186 m² or less on a larger one (ALR Use Regulation s. 34.3). Manufactured homes placed under the old rules before 2022 may stay but not grow (ss. 34.1, 34.2). More needs the Commission's permission, and the zone must allow it too.
- What it means for a buyer
- On your own land, ask the local government whether the zone allows the home you have in mind and what the building permit needs, and check the CSA label and the registry. In a manufactured home park you rent the pad, and the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act sets the rules for the rent and the park's rules. On a well and septic, the home needs a septic system designed by an authorised person, as any house does.
Our summary of the Manufactured Home Act and Regulation, the Local Government Act, the Agricultural Land Commission Act and the ALR Use Regulation, read 2026-10-07, and of each zoning bylaw on its own page; the zone's own rules and the building permit decide the details. Confirm with the local government's planning and building departments before you buy or build.
Source: Manufactured Home Act, SBC 2003, c. 75 (ss. 1, 15, 18, 20, 25, 32, 33) (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07); Manufactured Home Regulation, B.C. Reg. 441/2003 (s. 2) (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07); Local Government Act, Part 14 (s. 481.3) (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07); Agricultural Land Commission Act (s. 20.1) (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07); Agricultural Land Reserve Use Regulation, B.C. Reg. 30/2019 (ss. 34.1 to 34.3) (summarised in our words, read 2026-10-07).
By place
37 of BC's 319 places have a zoning bylaw we've summarised with a zone named for manufactured or mobile homes: 36 zones in 28 bylaws, parks and lots alike. Listed by name. Many other zones allow a manufactured home as a lot's house; each zone's page says what it allows.
A regional district's bylaw is listed where at least 20 ha and 1% of it lies in the place; towns inside a regional district zone their own land. Elsewhere a report names the zone where the map is open, and the bylaw sets the rule: zoning we cover.
See also a suite or a second home, the ALR, septic setbacks, property tax and zoning by place.
Buying rural land? Before you buy rural land in BC: the nine questions that decide an offer, on one printable page.