Coach Houses and Garden Suites in Langley, BC

The Township of Langley and the City of Langley use different words for a small home behind the main house, so the name matters when you read the rules. In the Township's Zoning Bylaw 2500, Section 102, an "accessory dwelling unit" is a dwelling unit inside an accessory building, and an accessory building must stand at least 1.5 m from the main house. The same section defines a "coach house" as an accessory dwelling unit located only in the second storey of a detached garage. The Township's page on small-scale multi-unit housing gives "detached garden suites" as its example of an accessory dwelling unit.

The City of Langley's Zoning Bylaw 2025 No. 3300 has two terms. A "garden suite" is a separate home behind the main house, one storey or 4.6 m tall, whichever is less. A "carriage home" is the same idea at two storeys or 6.8 m, whichever is less.

On farmland, the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) uses a third term: an "additional residence", a detached second home on the same parcel. Its rules sit on top of the Township's zoning.

We use "coach house" and "garden suite" on this page the way most people search for them: a separate small home on the same lot as your house. When we apply for a permit, we use the exact term from the bylaw that covers your lot. If you are still choosing between a new house and a renovation, our page for the custom home builder in Langley covers the Township's lot, zoning and farmland rules in full.

The Township rewrote its residential zones on November 18, 2024, with Bylaw 6020, to meet the provincial rules for small-scale multi-unit housing. Since then, each of these zones allows one house plus one accessory dwelling unit, as long as the house itself has no secondary suite: R-1A (Section 401.2), R-1B to R-1E (402.2), SR-1 (301.2), SR-3 (303.2), SR-3A (304.2) and SR-3B (305.2). In SR-2 (302.2), the extra unit is allowed only when the lot is outside the urban containment boundary, the line around the Township's urban areas. So on these lots you choose between a suite inside the house and a garden suite or coach house behind it.

Some urban lots qualify for more. Under Section 102, a lot can hold up to four homes, attached or detached, when it is inside the urban containment boundary, under 4,050 m², on municipal sewer and municipal water, outside the Willowbrook transit area, and free of a heritage designation. On a lot of 280 m² or less, the limit is three. The Township's page adds that lots outside these rules get one home plus one suite or one accessory dwelling unit, depending on the zone.

We found no floor area cap for an accessory dwelling unit in Zoning Bylaw 2500. The SR-1 and SR-3 zones cap the total ground floor of accessory buildings at 135 m² and 80 m², and both caps leave accessory dwelling units out (301.4 and 303.3). So the size comes from lot coverage, height and setbacks: 35% coverage on R-1 lots, or 45% with infill housing, and 33% on SR lots. Accessory buildings in SR-1 can be 7.5 m tall (301.6) and in SR-3 4.75 m (303.5). On an R-1A lot, a unit within 6.0 m of the rear lot line that counts as infill housing (a new home added beside a house built before the 2024 rules) can be 4.5 m tall, unless it is a coach house facing a lane (401.6); R-1B to R-1E use 7.5 m from the rear line (402.5). Because the bylaw prints no unit size, we ask the Township to confirm the size and height for your lot before design starts.

On a front-loaded R-1A lot, an accessory dwelling unit must sit at least 6.0 m from the front lot line, 1.5 m from the rear and 1.2 m from an interior side, and it cannot go in the front yard (401.5). In SR-1, accessory buildings of 80 m² or more need 3 m from the rear and side lot lines (301.5). Section 104.15 says no accessory building may go up before the main house, unless both are built at the same time. For parking, Section 107.3 asks for 1 space per dwelling unit and at least 2 per lot for single family dwellings and small-scale multi-unit housing. We confirm the count for a house and a coach house with the Township.

We did not find a rule in Zoning Bylaw 2500 that the owner must live on a lot with an accessory dwelling unit. The bylaw does have that rule for a mobile home used as a temporary second home (Sections 201.4 and 301.3). Ask the Township about your lot, because a legal agreement registered on your title, or another bylaw, can add conditions.

The Township's rural RU-1 zone lists no accessory dwelling unit. It allows up to two single family dwellings or mobile homes on one lot, subject to the Agricultural Land Commission Act (Section 201.2), and RU-2, RU-3, RU-4 and RU-5 allow every RU-1 use. RU-3A allows one single family dwelling only (203A.2). A house in RU-1 can be 9 m tall (201.8). A mobile home used as a temporary second home is allowed for a farm employee or close family of the owner, on a property of 8,094 m² or more, when the owner lives in the main house. The permit is for one year at a time (201.4).

The Township says 75% of its land is in the Agricultural Land Reserve. There, the ALC allows one detached additional residence without an application. When construction starts, the property can have only one existing residence. On a parcel of 40 hectares or less, where the main house is 500 m² or less, the additional residence can be up to 90 m². On a parcel over 40 hectares it can be up to 186 m². It does not have to be for farm help, so family members or others can live in it if local bylaws allow. The ALC brought in this rule on December 31, 2021.

The ALC measures an additional residence to the inside face of its exterior walls, and it counts a basement. A garage attached to the side of it, or under it, also counts, with one exception. A home above a one-storey garage can leave the garage out when the garage is one open space for the main house's vehicles, has no inside door to the home, is no larger than the home's size limit, and stands next to the main house. Any fill for an additional residence, including gravel for the foundation, needs a Notice of Intent to the ALC first.

The ALC allows a secondary suite on farmland only inside the main house, and a detached building cannot be used as that suite. The Township has its own permit type for an "ALR second dwelling under 90 m²". Its form list includes the septic referral form and the energy forms used for a new house.

The City of Langley adopted Zoning Bylaw 2025 No. 3300 on March 9, 2026. Its R1 Suburban Residential zone lists a secondary suite, a garden suite and a carriage home as accessory uses, on lots of 557 m² or more with 16 m of frontage. R1 is the only City zone that lists them. Section 2.4 sets the rules: the registered owner must live on the lot, and the garden suite or carriage home must sit at least as far back from the front lot line as the house, and at least 1.0 m from it. Its ground floor can be up to 100 m², within the zone's 36% lot coverage.

A garden suite needs 6.0 m from the front lot line and 1.5 m from the rear and interior side lot lines. A carriage home needs 4.5 m from the rear and side lot lines, or 3.0 m when the upper-storey windows facing those lines are clerestory windows, set high in the wall. R1 allows up to 4 homes on a lot, or only the house plus one suite, garden suite or carriage home inside a transit-oriented area. Section 3.7 asks for 1 parking space for a unit of 100 m² or less, and none within 400 m of a frequent bus stop.

The Township's community plan says rural areas are served by on-site sewer systems. A second home adds a kitchen and a bathroom to the septic system, so a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner (ROWP) checks the septic system before design. Under BC's Sewerage System Regulation, only an authorized person (a ROWP or a professional), or the owner under that person's supervision, may build the system. The authorized person files the plans with Fraser Health before work starts, with a $200 fee, and the work must be finished within two years of the date Fraser Health stamps on the filing.

The Township needs either the Fraser Health record of filing or a Building Permit Referral Form, filled in by the ROWP when no septic work is needed, before it issues a permit. The regulation also keeps a septic system at least 30 m from a well, unless a hydrogeology professional advises otherwise in writing, so the new home, the septic field and the well are sited together. A new home on a private well needs a well water potability certificate with test results no older than six months.

On a farm lot the fill rule matters here as well, because septic beds, a driveway and a foundation can all need gravel or soil. For an additional residence on ALR land, any fill needs a Notice of Intent to the ALC first.

BC Housing says a standalone accessory dwelling unit, such as a garden suite or laneway home, meets the definition of a new home under the Homeowner Protection Act. So it must be built by a licensed residential builder and covered by home warranty insurance. A suite inside the main house, such as a basement suite, does not need it. The coverage is 2 years on materials and labour, 5 years on the building envelope and 10 years on the structure. An owner who builds the unit under an Owner Builder Authorization must use it personally for at least one year from first occupancy. For a new home, the Township issues the permit only after it receives the BC Housing warranty form.

Since April 1, 2025, the Township has required Step 4 of the BC Energy Step Code and EL-3 of the Zero Carbon Step Code for all new Part 9 residential construction (homes built under Part 9 of the BC Building Code). For a small home, that means an energy advisor, an energy model using the Abbotsford weather file, and a heating system chosen to meet the carbon target. We bring the advisor in with the first floor plan.

The Township's residential permit page has no permit type named for a coach house or garden suite. It lists a new house with an accessory building, accessory buildings on their own, and the ALR second dwelling. We confirm the application type with the Township first. The Township does not publish processing times. Its new house guide asks for a title search no older than 30 days, and nobody may move in until the final inspection is accepted and occupancy is approved in writing.

If a suite inside your house suits you better, our home renovations in Langley page covers basement suites. Our kitchen renovations in Langley page explains how the Township counts a second kitchen.

We have not yet added a finished coach house to our project gallery. The closest project we can show you is Country Shop, a detached workshop we built on a rural property in Langley, used for work, storage and hobbies. It has much in common with a garden suite on an acreage: a separate building sited away from the house, its own foundation, insulation and power for use all year, and a finish that suits the property around it. It took 4 months to build.

A garden suite adds a kitchen, a bathroom, a septic or sewer connection, the energy rules for a new home and the home warranty. We plan those from the first site visit.

We have not found a credible, named source for coach house prices in Langley, so we print none. We price each one from a site visit, the bylaw for your lot and a written scope of work. These are the things that change the number: