Garden suites are detached dwellings located in the rear yard of a property with a single-family house as its principal use.

The municipality of Saanich will now permit a garden suite on most single family residential (RS-zoned) properties inside the Saanich sewer service area. However, property owners need to be aware of other restrictions on their properties.

Almost all properties in the Broadmead area have pre-existing statutory building schemes on title that prohibit more than one dwelling unit (for one family or household) on any property. While Saanich will issue a building permit for garden suites (after providing a simple warning to applicants to check their title to ensure such suites are allowed), if a building scheme restriction is on title, landowners building such structures – even if they have a Saanich-issued building permit — leave themselves open to possible legal action from neighbours in the same building scheme.