Multiplex, townhouse, apartment or house with a suite: how they compare

Four housing types in one table

The table below sets the four types next to each other. Each row uses a definition or rule from a bylaw, the Local Government Act or the BC Building Code 2024, so the comparison rests on what the rules say about each type. Prices and rents are left out on purpose.

Two terms come up in the table. Strata title divides a building into strata lots that are owned separately, with the shared parts (roof, outside walls, land) owned in common and run by a strata corporation, the body made up of all the owners. Fee simple means a home sits on its own lot, owned outright, with no strata.

Multiplex or townhouse

The two overlap. The province's policy manual lists townhomes among small-scale multi-unit housing forms and gives four townhouses as one way to place four homes on a lot. Burnaby's R1 district allows rowhouses on small lots with no side yard, up to 3 homes, and introduced fee simple rowhousing as an ownership choice next to strata.

The clearest legal difference is the land under each home. Surrey's row housing building puts each home on its own lot. A multiplex keeps one parcel of land, and the homes are either held under one title or divided into strata lots by a strata plan. A buyer in a fee simple row house owns a lot; a buyer in a strata multiplex owns a strata lot and a share of the common property.

In the building code the two are close. Both are Part 9 buildings at this scale, and the code's accessibility exemption names townhouses and row houses. Where each townhouse has two or more storeys, Sentence 9.10.9.16 (3) requires a 1-hour fire separation between it and its neighbours.

For the search duplex vs townhouse: a duplex has 2 principal homes. Surrey's duplex is one ground-oriented building, with or without a suite in each half. Surrey's semi-detached building is the 2-home version on separate lots. A row housing building starts at 3.

Multiplex or apartment building

An apartment building is organized around a common entrance and interior corridors, and the code treats that layout differently from homes with their own doors. Article 9.5.2.3 applies accessibility requirements to the common spaces of a residential building with multiple homes and common interior space served by a common building entrance. The adaptable dwelling unit rule in Article 3.8.5.1 applies to one-storey homes served by an accessible interior public corridor and an accessible common entrance.

Size also decides the code part. A residential building over 3 storeys or over 600 square metres of building area falls under Part 3. A Part 9 building of more than 3 storeys, counting storeys below the first storey, needs a fire alarm system under Article 9.10.18.2.

A multiplex can be built in apartment style. A fourplex with one shared front door and an inside stair to the upper homes has a common entrance and common interior space, so Article 9.5.2.3 and the shared-exit rules in Article 9.9.9.3 come into play. A multiplex where each home has its own door to the outside avoids them.

The province's policy manual describes small-scale multi-unit housing as ground-oriented and similar in scale to single-family and duplex neighbourhoods, and contrasts it with larger multi-family housing such as condominium towers. The Journal post on multiplex and multi-family housing covers that difference in more depth.

Multiplex or house with a suite

A house with a suite is the smallest step up from a single home. Section 481.3 (3) of the Local Government Act requires single-family zones to allow at least one more home, inside or beside the house, and the province's manual says suites or accessory homes must be permitted almost everywhere in the province.

The building code separates the two. A secondary suite shares its building with only one other home, and the two form a single real estate entity. A building with a third home inside it uses the general rules for dwelling units: 45-minute fire separations and an STC 50 or ASTC 47 sound rating between homes. The house-with-suite rules allow 15 to 45 minute separations depending on smoke alarms, and STC 43 or ASTC 40 for sound.

Ownership follows. The suite cannot be strata titled on its own, so a house with a suite is sold as one property. A multiplex of principal homes can be divided into strata lots and sold home by home.

A house with a suite and a laneway home is three homes on one lot, and under provincial law it counts the same as a triplex toward the 3, 4 or 6 homes a zone must allow. Whether a city calls that combination a multiplex is a question of its own bylaw. Vancouver's definition, 3 to 8 homes across one or more buildings, can include it.

Duplex or multiplex in Burnaby

Burnaby's R1 summary, dated July 2026, shows how one city separates the two. A duplex in R1 can be two sets of duplexes or one set with secondary suites, and a multiplex is 3 to 6 homes in one building. Front principal buildings may be 10 metres above grade, at 2.5 storeys for 1 or 2 homes and 3 storeys for 3 to 6 homes, counting a basement or cellar storey. Lot coverage is 40 percent for 1 to 4 homes, 30 percent for 1 or 2 homes on lots over 567 square metres, and 45 percent for 5 or 6 homes.

Burnaby also set minimum home sizes in July 2026: 32.5 square metres for a secondary suite, 37 for a studio, 56 for one bedroom, 90 for two bedrooms, 111 for three and 125 for four or more. Parking outside a Frequent Transit Network Area is 1 space for the first home and 0.5 for each extra home, and none is required inside one.

These numbers changed recently. In December 2025, after a public hearing, Burnaby reduced building heights and storeys, cut maximum lot coverage by 5 to 10 percent, raised front and lane setbacks, and raised parking outside transit areas. The R1 district then moved into the new Burnaby Zoning Bylaw 2026. Check the date on any summary of Burnaby's rules, because one from before December 2025 shows the older, larger limits. The Burnaby Journal post and the zoning guide cover the rest of R1.