Burnaby's R1 district — the large majority of former single-family and duplex lots — permits small-scale multi-unit housing under Zoning Bylaw No. 14815 (in force July 1, 2026): a detached rear home (what used to be called a laneway home) is a permitted PRINCIPAL building, even on lots without lane access. A 'secondary suite' is a different thing — by definition it sits inside the main house. What actually decides feasibility on a typical lot: the 6.0 m separation between front and rear principal buildings, lot coverage (for the one- or two-unit case a laneway home creates, 40% under 567 m2 and 30% over; the bylaw's table sets its own figures for three to six units), the 40% permeable-surface minimum, and sprinklers where any unit sits more than 45 m from the street. No parking is required in frequent-transit areas.
Rules verified 2026-08-02 · Pre-screening only, not a permit determination.
Each statement below was read from the document it links to, on the date beside it. Where the wording is precise, that is because the bylaw is.
The 26 zone codes we have mapped for Burnaby, and the reading recorded for each. The list can include commercial, industrial, agricultural and site-specific codes, so its length is not necessarily a count of residential zones. This is a statement about the zone, not a verdict on any particular lot, and it is not the whole bylaw — a zone that is not listed here has not been read individually.
Likely the reading recorded for this zone is favourable. Conditional favourable in principle here; whether one fits is a lot-level question. Needs review this zone has to be read on its own, usually because it is site-specific. Unlikely the reading recorded for this zone is not favourable.
| Zone | Detached suite | Why |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | Likely | Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing District (Bylaw 14815 Part 3 s.1.1) — covers ~82.7% of Burnaby parcels. 1-6 dwelling units per lot; a detached rear principal building is the laneway form, and no minimum lot area applies for 1-2 units. Screening gates: 6.0 m front-to-rear building separation; lot coverage, which Part 3 s.1.1.5 tiers by how many units the lot ends up with rather than setting district-wide: 40% under 567 m2 and 30% over for one or two units, a flat 40% for three or four, and 45% for five or six inside a Frequent Transit Network area; 40% permeable surface; rear principal max 7.5 m sloping / 7.0 m flat roof, 2 storeys; 1.5 m lane yard or 3.0 m interior rear yard where no lane; sprinklers if any unit is >45 m from a street lot line. |
| R2 | Conditional | Townhouse District (s.1.2) — R2's permitted-use table expressly includes 'Uses permitted in the R1 District', so small-scale multi-unit housing INCLUDING a detached rear principal building IS a permitted use here. Conditional only because R2 carries its own built-form table (s.1.2.4) and a specialist must confirm which siting regulations govern. |
| R2R | Conditional | Townhouse District, purpose-built rental sub-district (R2r) — same analysis as R2: R1 uses are expressly permitted; rental tenure restrictions apply on top. |
| A1 | Needs review | Agriculture District (s.6.1) — a dwelling is only an accessory use here, and s.6.1.1 makes all ALR land subject to the Agricultural Land Commission Act. Additional-dwelling rights on ALR land are governed by the ALC, not the Zoning Bylaw — this cannot be auto-answered. |
| CD | Needs review | |
| C1 | Unlikely | Neighbourhood Commercial District (s.2.1) — the permitted-use table contains no residential dwelling use at all (live-work only), so a detached laneway dwelling is not a permitted use. |
| C2 | Unlikely | General Commercial District (s.2.2) — city-serving commercial; not a small-scale residential lot. |
| E1 | Unlikely | Employment District (s.3.1) — light industrial/commercial; not a residential district. |
| I1 | Unlikely | Industrial District (s.4.1) — not a residential district. |
| I1A | Unlikely | Heavy-industrial sub-district (I1a, 100 m siting separation from sensitive uses) — not a residential district. |
| P1 | Unlikely | Parks, Open Spaces and Natural Areas District (s.5.1) — not a residential lot. P1 and P1a together are roughly a quarter of Burnaby's land area, so this code will come up. |
| P1A | Unlikely | Restricted-access natural area sub-district (P1a) — not a residential lot. |
| P2 | Unlikely | Institutional District (s.5.2) — public, cultural, recreational and educational uses; not a residential lot. |
| P2A | Unlikely | Institutional sub-district (P2a) — not a residential lot. |
| R3 | Unlikely | Low-Rise Apartment District 1 (s.1.3) — principal uses are apartment and townhouse dwellings; unlike R2, this district does NOT import R1 uses, so there is no detached-rear-unit entitlement. |
| R3R | Unlikely | Low-Rise Apartment District 1, rental sub-district (R3r) — no R1-use import; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R4 | Unlikely | Low-Rise Apartment District 2 (s.1.4) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R4R | Unlikely | Low-Rise Apartment District 2, rental sub-district (R4r) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R5 | Unlikely | Mid-Rise Apartment District 1 (s.1.5) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R5R | Unlikely | Mid-Rise Apartment District 1, rental sub-district (R5r) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R6 | Unlikely | Mid-Rise Apartment District 2 (s.1.6) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R6R | Unlikely | Mid-Rise Apartment District 2, rental sub-district (R6r) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R7 | Unlikely | High-Rise Apartment District 1 (s.1.7) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R7R | Unlikely | High-Rise Apartment District 1, rental sub-district (R7r) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R8 | Unlikely | High-Rise Apartment District 2 (s.1.8) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
| R8R | Unlikely | High-Rise Apartment District 2, rental sub-district (R8r) — apartment district; no detached-suite entitlement. |
Rear principal buildings in R1: 2 storeys, 7.5 m (sloping roof) / 7.0 m (flat). Burnaby R1 has NO FAR, no maximum floor-area cap and no minimum lot depth, but Part 4 s.3.2.2.1 does set a MINIMUM unit size — the smallest standalone home permitted is a 37 m2 studio (a one-bedroom is 56 m2) — size falls out of height, setbacks, the 6.0 m building separation and lot coverage (40%/30%) plus the 40% permeable-surface minimum. The once-reported 'rear principal buildings: 33.3% of maximum lot coverage' cap is NOT in Bylaw 14815 — it lived in the Nov 2025 amendment to the repealed 1965 bylaw (No. 4742) and did not carry forward.
| Build | Planning estimate |
|---|---|
| One bedroom | $380,000 |
| Two bedroom | $510,000 |
| Utility connections, on top | $30,000 – $80,000 |
These are KYRAX's own mid-range planning figures, not Burnaby's and not a quote. They are for working out whether the idea is worth pursuing. Real quotes for a completed build in this region have ranged from roughly $275,000 to $840,000 depending on size, site access, servicing and finish, and only a site visit narrows that.
| Suite | Indicative band |
|---|---|
| One bedroom | $2,050 / month |
| Two bedroom | $2,700 / month |
Indicative band for Burnaby as of 2026-08, drawn from: Asking rents: liv.rent Metro Vancouver Rent Report Jul 2026 (Burnaby 1BR $2,077 / 2BR $2,562) and Zumper Burnaby (1BR $2,150 / 2BR $2,700, accessed Aug 2026); CMHC RMS Oct 2025 purpose-built average 1BR $1,730 / 2BR $2,144 cited as the conservative floor No survey measures laneway suites specifically, so these describe comparable rentals rather than laneway homes as a class.
This page is the rule for the zone. Your lot is specific — its width, what is already built on it, and how it is serviced all change the answer. The check reads Burnaby's own zoning and parcel data for your address, then tells you which of those things it could and could not confirm.
Burnaby's R1 district — the large majority of former single-family and duplex lots — permits small-scale multi-unit housing under Zoning Bylaw No. 14815 (in force July 1, 2026): a detached rear home (what used to be called a laneway home) is a permitted PRINCIPAL building, even on lots without lane access. A 'secondary suite' is a different thing — by definition it sits inside the main house. What actually decides feasibility on a typical lot: the 6.0 m separation between front and rear principal buildings, lot coverage (for the one- or two-unit case a laneway home creates, 40% under 567 m2 and 30% over; the bylaw's table sets its own figures for three to six units), the 40% permeable-surface minimum, and sprinklers where any unit sits more than 45 m from the street. No parking is required in frequent-transit areas.
Rear principal buildings in R1: 2 storeys, 7.5 m (sloping roof) / 7.0 m (flat). Burnaby R1 has NO FAR, no maximum floor-area cap and no minimum lot depth, but Part 4 s.3.2.2.1 does set a MINIMUM unit size — the smallest standalone home permitted is a 37 m2 studio (a one-bedroom is 56 m2) — size falls out of height, setbacks, the 6.0 m building separation and lot coverage (40%/30%) plus the 40% permeable-surface minimum. The once-reported 'rear principal buildings: 33.3% of maximum lot coverage' cap is NOT in Bylaw 14815 — it lived in the Nov 2025 amendment to the repealed 1965 bylaw (No. 4742) and did not carry forward.
As a planning estimate, around $510,000 for a two-bedroom build and $380,000 for a one-bedroom, plus utility connections. These are KYRAX's own mid-range figures for budgeting, not Burnaby's and not a quote — real quotes in this region have ranged from roughly $275,000 to $840,000.
An indicative band for Burnaby is about $2,050 a month for a one-bedroom and $2,700 for a two-bedroom, as of 2026-08. No survey measures laneway suites specifically, so that is drawn from comparable rentals: Asking rents: liv.rent Metro Vancouver Rent Report Jul 2026 (Burnaby 1BR $2,077 / 2BR $2,562) and Zumper Burnaby (1BR $2,150 / 2BR $2,700, accessed Aug 2026); CMHC RMS Oct 2025 purpose-built average 1BR $1,730 / 2BR $2,144 cited as the conservative floor
The reading recorded as favourable covers R1. Others are conditional, need individual review, or are not favourable; the table above lists all 26 zones that were read. Which zone your lot is in is what the address check resolves.
When you enter an address, the check reads Burnaby's own parcel and zoning data for that specific lot. It resolves the parcel, reads the zone, and tests whether a suite of the size the bylaw permits fits behind the existing house once coverage and setbacks are taken out.
It reports what it could not establish as plainly as what it could. A favourable answer requires a real zoning read — the absence of an objection is not treated as a permission. Pre-screening only, not a permit determination.
BC Building Code 2024 · checked 2026-09-10
Outside the City of Vancouver, a laneway home in the Lower Mainland is designed to the BC Building Code 2024, which took effect on 8 March 2024 and is based on the National Building Code of Canada 2020. It applies to projects whose building permit was applied for after that date, so the edition that governs your build is fixed by when you apply, not by when you break ground.
The 2024 edition's earthquake design and adaptable dwelling requirements did not arrive with the rest of it. The 2018 rules stayed in force for permits applied for up to 9 March 2025, and from 10 March 2025 the 2024 requirements apply to all new projects. A set of drawings prepared under the older seismic rules is therefore only still usable if the permit application beat that date.
Projects already in stream when the edition changed can qualify for an extended exemption running to 8 March 2027. If a design has been sitting for a couple of years, which edition it was drawn to is worth confirming before it goes any further.
The provincial code takes Burnaby's design value at the Burnaby (General) station, 137 m up: a 1-in-50 ground snow load of 2.7 kPa, plus 0.4 kPa for rain falling on that snow. A second station, Burnaby (Simon Fraser Univ.) at 330 m, reads 2.9 kPa — snow load climbs with elevation, so a lot higher up designs to more.
Across the stations the provincial table lists for these municipalities, the ground snow load runs from 1.3 kPa at Ladner to 2.9 kPa at Burnaby (Simon Fraser Univ.) — more than double. Coquitlam, which the table does not list, publishes its own values, and they reach 5.7 kPa between 401 and 425 m. That is why the same laneway design can need a heavier roof structure in one city than the next. Wind barely varies: at the stations the table lists, 1-in-50 hourly wind pressures run 0.44–0.47 kPa.
These are ground loads at a named weather station and elevation, not the load on a roof: the code derives roof loads from them, and a station is not a lot. The designer of record works out the value for the actual site.
Code editions, effective dates and station design values. The values for a specific building are for its designer of record. www2.gov.bc.ca · verified 2026-09-10 · www2.gov.bc.ca (PDF) · verified 2026-09-10 · coquitlam.ca · verified 2026-09-10
The documents the statements above were read from, with the date each was last checked.
The rules change at every city line. These pages are built from the same bylaw reads.
This page describes Burnaby's rules as they read on 2026-08-02. Bylaws change. Nothing here is a permit determination or legal advice, and only the municipality can approve a build.