Surrey's residential zones: RA and R1 to R6 explained

Which new zone replaced your old one

Surrey's zoning bylaw amendments were finally adopted and came into effect on 8 July 2024, after first, second and third reading on 24 June 2024. The changes were made to meet the provincial small-scale multi-unit housing (SSMUH) law. Part 3 of Zoning By-law 12000 now says that any reference in any bylaw to an old zone is replaced by the new zone shown in its table. The table below copies that list.

Five more zones were folded in by lot size instead of by name. The gross density zones RA-G, RH-G, RF-G and RC, and the duplex zone RM-D, were removed, and each lot in them was rezoned to RA, R1, R2, R3, R4 or R5 depending on its size. So two neighbours who were both in RF-G before July 2024 can now be in different zones.

Comprehensive Development zones, known as CD zones, work differently again. A CD zone is a zone written for one site or one project, with its own rules. Surrey's page says more than 4,600 CD-zoned lots are based on single-family or duplex zones. Those CD zones stay in place, and Part 52 of the bylaw adds the small-scale housing permissions to them by lot size. The second table in this chapter shows the lot size bands.

How many homes each zone allows, and in what buildings

The unit limits are the same across RA, R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5. On a lot of 4,050 square metres or more, up to 2 homes. On a lot under 4,050 square metres and at least 280 square metres, up to 4 homes, or up to 6 on an eligible lot in a Frequent Bus Stop Area. On a lot under 280 square metres, up to 3. Inside a transit-oriented area, up to 2 on any lot under 4,050 square metres. R6 follows the same pattern with semi-detached buildings on lots under 280 square metres and duplexes on larger lots.

Every zone also caps three kinds of land at 2 homes: land protected under section 12.1 (2) of the Heritage Conservation Act, land that was designated under a section 611 heritage bylaw as of 7 December 2023, and land not connected to a community water or sewer system.

What changes from zone to zone is the type of principal building. In RA, R1, R2, R4 and R5, the principal building is a single family dwelling or a duplex. R3 adds the houseplex. The extra homes come from accessory units: a secondary suite inside the main building, a garden suite (a small separate building at ground level), or a coach house (a unit above or attached to a detached garage). Surrey's page gives examples: a duplex with two secondary suites makes 4 homes, and a duplex with two suites and two coach houses makes 6. A house with a suite and a coach house makes 3.

The zone's intent statement tells you the lot size each zone was written for. The table below quotes them. These are typical sizes, used to describe the zone. The minimum size for creating a new lot by subdivision is a separate rule in each zone, for example 560 square metres in R3.

R3 in detail: the Urban Residential Zone

R3 replaced the RF and RF-SS zones. Its intent is small-scale multi-unit housing on urban lots typically 560 square metres or larger, holding 2 to 6 homes. A new R3 lot created by subdivision must be at least 560 square metres, 15 metres wide and 28 metres deep, at a maximum of 18 lots per hectare.

A houseplex may be built on a corner lot, a through lot (a lot with a street at both ends) or a lot with lane access. On an interior lot with no lane, the setback table marks a houseplex as not permitted. The bylaw defines a houseplex as a building with at least 3 and no more than 4 principal homes that resembles a large house, and secondary suites are not permitted in it. To reach 6 homes on an eligible bus stop lot, the zone allows a fourplex with two coach houses.

Floor area ratio (FAR) is the total floor area allowed divided by the lot area. For a houseplex in R3, FAR is 1.0 on the first 560 square metres of lot area and 0.60 on the rest, basements are left out of the calculation, and the building may not exceed 600 square metres excluding basements. For a duplex, FAR is 1.0, basements are counted, and the cap is 560 square metres. Outside Frequent Bus Stop Areas, each houseplex home needs at least 22 square metres used only as a garage or carport, and houseplex garages must be detached with rear lane access.

Lot coverage for a houseplex is 60 percent on a lot up to 560 square metres, falling by 2 percent for each 93 square metres of extra lot area until it reaches 35 percent. The houseplex setbacks are 3.5 metres at the front (a covered porch may come to 2.0 metres), 7.5 metres at the rear, 1.2 metres at the sides and 2.4 metres on a street side. Height is limited to 3 storeys including the basement, up to 9 metres with a sloped roof and 7.3 metres where any part of the roof is flatter than 1 in 4. At least 30 percent of the lot must be porous surface.

Parking for a houseplex or duplex is 1 space per home under Part 5 of the bylaw, with no minimum on eligible lots in a Frequent Bus Stop Area. A coach house or garden suite in R3 may be 35 to 75 square metres, or up to 120 square metres where the main building has not used its full floor area. These figures are from the consolidation that includes amendments adopted up to 21 September 2026.

R4 and the smaller lot zones

R4, the Small Lot Residential Zone, replaced RF-13, RF-12 and RF12C. It is written for lots typically 336 square metres or larger. A new interior lot must be at least 336 square metres, and a new corner lot at least 380 square metres. R4 allows no houseplex. Four homes in R4 come from a duplex with two secondary suites, and six from that duplex plus two coach houses or garden suites on an eligible bus stop lot.

In R4 a single family dwelling has a FAR of 0.72 and a cap of 266 square metres. A duplex is capped at 450 square metres including basements. Lot coverage is 60 percent for a duplex, or 65 percent with suites, a coach house or a garden suite. A duplex needs 6.0 metres at the front, which may drop to 4.0 metres in some cases, 6.0 metres at the rear and 1.2 metres at the sides.

R5 is written for compact lots of 291 square metres or larger, typically with rear lane access. R6 holds semi-detached buildings on narrow lots under 280 square metres and duplexes on larger lots. RA, R1 and R2 carry the same unit limits on much larger lots, and each sets its own setbacks and floor areas in Parts 12 to 14 of the bylaw.

We read the R4 and R3 rules side by side for a reason. A former RF lot and a former RF-12 lot can look alike from the street, but the first may hold a fourplex and the second may not. The zone name on the city map is the first thing to check.

Bus stop lots, transit areas, the 2026 review, and finding your zone

Surrey identified its frequent bus stops with TransLink. For eligible lots from 281 to 4,050 square metres within 400 metres of one, up to 6 homes are allowed and no off-street parking or loading is required. Schedule F of the bylaw maps these Frequent Bus Stop Areas. The City's own estimate is 13,000 eligible lots, which it describes as 18 percent of all small-scale housing lots in Surrey.

Inside a transit-oriented area, the area around a SkyTrain station or bus exchange set by provincial regulation, each zone limits a lot under 4,050 square metres to 2 homes. The bylaw's footnote explains that the provincial small-scale rules do not apply in those areas, which have their own provincial density rules. More homes there go through a rezoning.

Corporate Report R162, dated 22 July 2026, reported 465 building permits approved under the new zones, for 943 net new homes: 71 percent duplexes, 22 percent garden suites and coach houses, and 7 percent houseplexes. The report gives 72,000 as its estimate of eligible properties. It also proposed servicing changes, including frontage works and sidewalks for duplex and houseplex applications and lane upgrades for houseplexes. Surrey's page says Council approved a comprehensive review of the small-scale rules on 27 July 2026. The report also notes that Surrey's Amenity Cost Charge bylaw came into effect on 15 June 2026 and applies to small-scale housing where applicable.

To find your zone, use COSMOS, Surrey's online mapping system, which the City's page points to for both zones and Frequent Bus Stop Areas. Then open the matching Part of Zoning By-law 12000 and read it in the order set out in the next chapter. Then order a title search, because a covenant on title can limit what the zone allows.