Multiplex Homes in Langley

The Township adopted its small-scale multi-unit housing zoning on November 18, 2024. A qualifying lot can hold three homes if it is 280 m² (3,014 sq ft) or smaller, and four if it is larger, up to 4,050 m² (one acre). To qualify, the lot has to sit inside the Urban Containment Boundary, be connected to both municipal water and sewer, carry no heritage designation, lie outside the Willowbrook Transit Oriented Area and take its driveway from a road other than an arterial.

The R-1A to R-1E, compact-lot R-CL and R-2 residential zones and the SR-1 and SR-3 suburban zones each allow one small-scale multi-unit housing development of up to four homes per lot, attached or detached, and a single-family house can still be built instead. Township staff estimated in March 2026 that over 14,000 lots qualify, most with a house on them already, so homes can be added beside the existing house or the lot redeveloped. Many suburban lots do not qualify because they lack municipal water and sewer.

In the R-1A zone, buildings can cover 35% of the lot, or 45% where detached homes are added beside a house or duplex built before November 18, 2024. Homes can reach 9.0 m, but detached homes added beside a kept house stop at 4.5 m within 6.0 m of the rear lot line, unless they are coach houses fronting a lane. A third storey is not allowed with one or two homes on the lot; with three homes it can be up to 50% of the first storey's floor area, and with four, 80%.

On a lot with its driveway at the front, the main building sits 6.0 to 7.5 m back from the front lot line, at least 3.0 m from the rear and 1.2 m from an interior side, and accessory buildings, including accessory dwelling units, cannot go in the front yard. Township staff calculated that at 35% coverage a larger lot fits four homes of 82 to 105 m² (880 to 1,128 sq ft) each. BC Building Code fire separations can push buildings further apart than the bylaw does.

Parking is one space per home, with at least two on the lot. A corner lot with three or more homes can add up to two driveways from a side street that is a local street or lane, as long as all the driveways together measure 12 m or less.

Since April 27, 2026, a multiplex in the Township also needs a development permit under the Official Community Plan's form and character guidelines for small-scale multi-unit housing, which cover exteriors, entrances, third storeys, site planning and parking. A third-party design consultant declares that the design meets the guidelines, so the development permit and building permit applications can go in together. The council report behind the guidelines lists the fees as $3,690 to apply plus $125 for each proposed unit, charged on approval.

Exemptions include a single-family house with no other homes on the lot, work that adds no units, additions and detached buildings under 50 m² that sit in a rear yard or meet the guidelines, and homes added beside a house or duplex built before November 18, 2024 that match its style and stay visually subordinate to it, supported by a design consultant's declaration. In the Murrayville and Fort Langley Heritage Conservation Areas, a heritage alteration permit takes the place of the development permit. Many older subdivisions carry exterior design covenants on title, and those still apply alongside the guidelines.

The City of Langley's Zoning Bylaw No. 3300, adopted on March 9, 2026, calls a duplex, triplex or fourplex a plex home and allows it in the R1 zone, which is written for lots of 557 m² or more with 16 m of frontage. An R1 lot can hold up to four homes, or six within 400 m of a frequent transit bus stop, and each principal home in a plex can have one secondary suite of up to 100 m² within that total. Plex homes are not permitted on R1 lots inside a Transit-Oriented Area.

A plex home can rise to 9.0 m, or 9.8 m for a three-storey building with a sloped roof of 4 in 12 or steeper, and buildings can cover 36% of the lot. The third storey is capped at the greater of 50 m² per unit on that storey or 80% of the ground floor, stepped back 1.2 m. Setbacks are 6.0 m at the front and rear, 1.5 m on an interior side (6 m for a second building behind the first) and 3.0 m on a street side. Each home needs private open space at least 6 m deep, and roof-top patios are not allowed.

Parking is one space for a home of 100 m² or less and 1.5 for a larger one, with none required within 400 m of a frequent bus stop. Where the lot has a secondary suite, a garden suite or a carriage home, the registered owner must live on the lot.

Every multiplex needs a building permit and is built to the BC Building Code. The Township's Building Bylaw requires a fire sprinkler system in any new building with a residential occupancy other than a detached single-family house, so a duplex, triplex or fourplex is sprinklered. A new Part 9 residential building applied for after March 31, 2025 must meet Step Code 4 and EL-3, and the permit application needs proof of builder registration and home warranty cover for each unit. In the City, the building permit rules call for NFPA 13 sprinklers in new buildings except single-family and two-family dwellings. Electrical permits come from Technical Safety BC in both.

A Township multiplex is serviced under the Subdivision and Development Servicing Bylaw. Where the water or sanitary system lacks capacity, the upgrades have to be finished before a new or upgraded service is connected, and the bylaw allows one sanitary service connection per parcel unless the Municipal Engineer approves more.

In the Township, development cost charges are levied on each new dwelling unit, with a credit for each existing one, and paid at subdivision or when the building permit is issued. DCC Bylaw No. 5897 sets the rate by density: $86,787 per unit at 15 units per hectare or less, $58,004 up to 44, $52,532 up to 74 and $38,482 above that. The Township's amenity cost charge, approved on March 23, 2026, adds $13,584 per unit for buildings with three or more ground-oriented entrances, a category that names small-scale multi-unit housing, and $19,571 per unit in its single and two family category, which takes in a duplex. Metro Vancouver's regional charges, TransLink's charge and the school site acquisition charge come on top.

The City of Langley's 2026 schedule has no row for plex homes, and its regional sewer, water and parkland charges predate the lower Metro Vancouver rates in effect since July 24, 2026.

Under BC's Homeowner Protection Act, every new home must be built by a licensed residential builder and covered by home warranty insurance, and it has to be enrolled before a building permit can be issued. In a multiplex that applies to each home, and BC Housing collects a $40 licensing fee on every unit registered.

BC Housing licenses builders as general contractors, who build new homes under contract for an owner, or developers, who sell new homes they own, and a builder who builds and sells homes on spec with its own trades is both. We hold licence 56273, registered as Developer and General Contractor, and carry Travelers 2-5-10 home warranty insurance on new builds.

In a strata building, BC Housing's minimum 2-5-10 cover on each unit starts at first occupancy or transfer of title, whichever comes first: 12 months on materials and labour, 24 months on major systems such as electrical, plumbing and heating, five years on the building envelope and ten years on the structure. The common property gets 15 months on materials and labour. Claims are limited to the lesser of the first owner's purchase price or $100,000 for each unit, and to the lesser of $100,000 per unit or $2.5 million per building for the common property.

For a new building, the developer files a strata plan with the Land Title Office, and the Province's policy manual notes that no local government approval is needed when none of the units has been occupied. Stratifying a building that has been lived in takes the municipality's approval, and the building must substantially comply with the BC Building Code. Side-by-side homes built to the Code can be strata titled, but a secondary suite cannot be stratified apart from the home it is in. Five or more strata lots in one building bring the project under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act and its disclosure statement rules.

A multiplex kept as rental on one title, or stratified with every unit held by one owner, can apply for BC Housing's rental exemption from builder licensing and home warranty insurance. It covers two or more homes in one building, or three or more detached homes on one title. The owner registers a Section 219 covenant that bars the sale of any unit for 10 years from first occupancy, and BC Housing issues the New Home Registration Form once the covenant is on title.

Abel Strujenco, our founder, holds the builder's licence the work runs under. Randy Ferchoff, our Director of Operations, is your project manager, and earlier in his career he was Assistant Site Supervisor and then Site Supervisor on multi-family construction projects. Derek Ferchoff supervises our sites day to day.

You get your own JobTread login with the live schedule, daily logs of who was on site, progress photos, invoices and change orders. We also hold a WorkSafeBC account in good standing.