By-law Administration and Records Services
Secondary Suites Program
On April 20, 2004, City Council formally approved changes to the Zoning and Development By-law which make it possible to have a secondary suite in every detached single family home in the City of Vancouver. In addition, Council also approved the relaxation of various building code standards to facilitate the secondary suite process. Examples of these changes include:
- "One-Family Dwelling with Secondary Suite" to be permitted in all residential RS, RM, and RT zones;
- One on-site parking space will be acceptable for a house with a secondary suite, if the house was built prior to April 20, 2004;
- Partial sprinkler system will no longer be a requirement for existing non-sprinklered houses (certain conditions apply). Instead, interconnected hard-wired smoke alarms equipped with carbon monoxide detection, battery backup and manual silencing device are to be installed;
- Ceiling height requirement for an existing house reduced to 6'6" over 80% of the suite area and in all areas of exit from the suite.
View the Council Report 
(137kb) related to the above changes.
What's Involved
If you are an owner who wishes to either put in a new secondary suite in your house, or keep an existing suite that has no prior permits or approval, please refer to “The Secondary Suite Guide” (25kb) for information on what’s involved in getting proper City permits, inspections and approval. To begin this process, an application for a Special Inspection (21kb) must be submitted in person with the required fee (16kb).
Contact Information
Secondary Suites Counter
453 West 12th Avenue – 2nd Floor, East Wing
For general inquiries please phone 3-1-1.
SecondarySuites.CSG@vancouver.ca
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