What should I know before buying a water-access-only lot or cabin in BC?

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That you need a lawful landing at both ends, a plan for building materials, septic and fire with no road, and a lender who will finance it: CMHC's insured mortgages won't. A water-access lot has no road to it: you arrive by boat, so each trip starts at a landing somewhere else and ends at a dock in front. Both ends are someone's land or the Crown's, and the lot's price rarely says which. A report gives the lot's road access, the moorage tenures in front, the room for a septic field and the nearest fire hall; this page says what a buyer adds to them. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. How a lot ends up with no road: A subdivision has to provide a sufficient highway to every new lot, as far as the owner controls the land (Land Title Act s. 75 (1) (a)), and in judging it the approving officer weighs the approach "whether by land or water" (s. 75 (3) (d)); relief can be granted in prescribed cases (s. 76). Many island and lake lots came from Crown grants and old plans made before these rules. Either way, the title shows no road, and a road drawn on a map may be an unbuilt allowance (see road allowances). The dock in front: The foreshore and the bed below the high water mark are almost always Crown land. One small private dock can go in under the Province's General Permission if it meets its conditions and limits; anything else needs a specific permission or a lease through FrontCounter BC (see docks and moorage). Ask the seller which the dock is: it's the only way onto the lot. The landing on the mainland: A parking spot, a launch ramp or a share of a marina is a separate right: a lease, a licence, a strata or cooperative share, or a registered easement. Only an easement or covenant registered on title binds the next owner of the land it's on; a handshake with a neighbour ends with the sale (our reading). Get it in writing, ask what it costs a year, and whether it's open in winter. Building there: Everything goes in by water: lumber, concrete, a septic tank, a fuel tank and the machines to dig. Landing craft and barge time are booked and priced by the trip, and weather sets the season (our reading). The building permit, the septic filing and the setbacks from the water apply as on any lot (see septic and streamside setbacks). Fire and emergencies: A fire department can't drive to a lot with no road, so cover depends on what reaches it by water, and an ambulance becomes a boat or a helicopter (our reading). Ask the regional district who responds, and an insurer whether it will cover the house at all (see fire protection and home insurance). Lenders: CMHC insures a homeowner mortgage only on a home with year-round access; an island reached by a vehicular bridge or ferry counts, a lot reached only by your own boat doesn't (CMHC's Homeowner Quick Reference). So with under 20% down most lenders won't finance it, and a larger down payment or cash is usual (see a mortgage on rural land). Winter: Ice on a lake, storms on the sea and low water on a reservoir can cut the lot off for weeks; a frozen lake can be crossed only when the ice is thick enough, and never on a schedule (our reading). Ask the seller and the neighbours when they last couldn't get across. What it means for a buyer: Price the boat, the moorage, the landing, the fuel and the time, not only the lot. Make the offer subject to the dock's authorization, the landing's terms in writing, insurance and financing.

What should I know before buying a water-access-only lot or cabin in BC?

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Before you buy: who to ask