Is Your Secondary Suite Registered? What's new in 2013...

Langley Township, which currently has an estimated 10,000 secondary suites, will now allow them provided homeowners pay a new fee of $350 per suite, plus a 30% fee on water and sewer charges. But the fee is reduced to $175 for homeowners who register the suites by the end of this year...by December 2013. (Langley Township has allowed the suites since 2007, but previously had no fees.)

LANGLEY HOMEOWNERS TAKE NOTE:
Any Langley Township homeowner who has a suite and does not register it...
is subject to fines of $500 a day until they register. Ouch!

Burnaby...This month, Burnaby approved a new bylaw to legalize secondary suites and collect permit fees, though the level of fees has yet to be set.

White Rock...Last month, White Rock began registering and charging a $250 fee for secondary suites.

Surrey...Surrey charges annually $350 per suite. Abbotsford...charges annual $572 per secondary suite, plus registration fees.

City of North Vancouver...This municipality was the first to allow secondary suites in single-family homes. They are now approving them for duplexes as well, which can turn them into fourplexes (* check higher standards for building codes).

City of Vancouver...charges $65 per suite (plus additional fees for water, sewer, garbage, recycling...$330).