RA: Acreage Residential

What the zone allows

Homes allowed

On a lot under 4,050 m²: up to 4 homes as a house or a duplex, with secondary suites, a coach house or a garden suite (3 homes, as a house, on a lot under 280 m²), or up to 6 on an eligible lot in a Frequent Bus Stop Area; inside a Transit-Oriented Area, up to 2. On 4,050 m² or more, up to 2: a house with a suite, coach house or garden suite. At most 2 on heritage-protected land or land not connected to community water or sewer (s. B.1). The zone is meant for acreages of 4,050 m² or more; a smaller lot already zoned RA gets the small-scale multi-unit housing counts

Main uses

A house, or a duplex on a lot under 4,050 m²; a secondary suite, coach house or garden suite, bed and breakfast, boarders, short-term rental; on 4,050 m² or more, horse boarding and a hobby kennel; farming and growing on 2 ha or more, with farm sales; a skateboard ramp on 0.9 ha or more

Smallest lot for a subdivision

4,050 m², 50 m wide, 60 m deep; at most 2.5 lots per hectare

Lot coverage

20%; on a smaller lot (by its Official Community Plan designation: up to 1,160 m² in a rural or suburban designation, 900 m² in Suburban-Urban Reserve, 1,858 m² in an urban one), 40% for a house on 560 m² or less, down 2 points for each 93 m² more to 25%; 45% for a duplex, down to 25%; 45% for a house with a coach house or garden suite in an urban designation, down to 30%

Height limit

House 9 m (10 m in a floodplain); duplex 3 storeys and 11 m (12 m); coach house or garden suite 2 storeys and 7 m, roof peak 8.3 m (8.5 m); accessory buildings 4 m (5 m where roof and materials match the house); a skateboard ramp 5 m

Setbacks

On a lot over 900 m² in a rural or suburban Official Community Plan designation, or over 1,858 m² in an urban one: house or duplex front 7.5 m, rear 7.5 m, sides 4.5 m (one may be 3.0 m beside Suburban land when the other is 15 m), street side 7.5 m; kennel and farm buildings front 36 m, rear and sides 7.5 m. On a smaller lot: house or duplex front 7.5 m, rear 7.5 m, sides 1.8 m, street side 3.6 m. Coach house or garden suite: rear and sides 1.8 m, street side 2.4 m, 5.0 m from the main building, never in front. Accessory buildings over 10 m²: front 18 m, rear 1.8 m, sides 1.0 m, street side 7.5 m

Floor area (s. D.2): on a smaller lot (900 m² or less in a rural or suburban Official Community Plan designation, 1,858 m² or less in an urban one), a house may have a floor area ratio of 0.60 on the first 560 m² of lot and 0.35 on the rest, at most 465 m², with 39 m² of it a garage or carport (not needed on an eligible lot in a Frequent Bus Stop Area); a duplex 1.0 and 0.60, basements counted. On a bigger lot no ratio applies. A house or duplex is at least 84 m² on the ground floor and 7 m wide.

Which Official Community Plan designation a lot has is on the City's plan map, which we don't read; it decides which floor area, coverage and setback figures above apply, so ask the City.

A coach house or garden suite adds 35 to 75 m² of floor area (a coach house's garage not counted) on top of the main building's allowance, or up to 120 m² where the main building leaves some of its allowance unused (s. D.2).

On a lot where the floor area ratio applies, a house's second storey is at most 80% of the first (counting an attached garage and covered front porch), set back from the front or side walls so the step shows from the street; a duplex's second and third storeys at most 90% each (s. D.4).

Parking: on a lot over 1,858 m², at most 2 vehicles and 3 trailers, campers or boats outdoors; on a smaller lot, one driveway up to 8 m wide and at most 4 vehicles (or 3 and a trailer or boat) outdoors (s. H).

Livestock, poultry and rabbits only on a lot of 0.4 ha or more: 2 livestock, 6 sheep or goats, 12 poultry (no roosters) for each 0.4 ha, sheltered 36 m from the front and street side and 7.5 m from the rear and sides; up to 4 hens on a lot of more than 669 m² and under 0.4 ha (Part 4, s. B.12).

The number of homes follows the Province's small-scale multi-unit housing rules as the zone's own table writes them: whether a lot is inside a Transit-Oriented Area, or an eligible lot in a Frequent Bus Stop Area (Schedule F of the bylaw), changes the count. We don't read those maps, so ask the City which applies to this lot.

In a floodplain (Part 8), a main building may be taller (the higher figures above) where its ground floor is only parking or other space nobody lives in, and only flood-resistant materials go below the flood construction level.

Every use the zone allows depends on City sewer, water, drainage and road works being in place and adequate; where they aren't, the lot may be used only as the A-1 zone allows until the owner extends them on the City's terms (Part 2, ss. B and C; Part 4, s. B.4).

Bed and breakfast: at most 6 guests in 3 bedrooms, with the owner living in the home; boarders or lodgers: at most 2 per home, owner living there; at most 6 guests for both together (Part 4, s. B.7).

Short-term rental only where the owner of the lot lives on it as their principal residence: in the house or the homes of a multi-unit building, and in at most one secondary suite, coach house or garden suite per lot (Part 4, s. B.7(d)).

A secondary suite is a home inside a house or duplex, at most 40% of the floor area of the home it belongs to, never its own strata lot and not allowed in a houseplex. A coach house sits above or beside a detached garage; a garden suite is a ground-level home of its own; both belong to the main building on the lot (Part 1 definitions).

Uses the zone doesn't list aren't allowed (Part 2, s. A).

Site-specific exceptions listed in the bylaw by legal description can add or change uses for one property, and development permit areas, the ALR and building rules apply on top. Confirm with the City of Surrey's planning and development department before you buy or build.

Source: Part 12 of Surrey Zoning By-law, 1993, No. 12000 (summarised in our words, checked 2026-10-04); zone map: Open Government Licence – Surrey.