Not on City Water and Sewer? How Bill 44's Servicing Exemption Changes Your Lot

A lot on a well or a septic field is exempt from Bill 44's fourplex and sixplex rules, even inside city limits. The test is whether the lot is actually connected, not whether a pipe runs down the street, and it catches thousands of suburban lots.

The short answer

• Section 481.4(1)(c) of the Local Government Act exempts land not connected to a water or sewer system provided by a municipality or regional district from Bill 44's 3, 4 and 6 unit minimums.
• The lot needs both: municipal or regional water and municipal or regional sewer. A well or a septic field takes it out.
• It is a provincial rule, so it applies in every city even if the city's own bylaw never mentions it.
• The exempt lot still gets one extra unit, and the city can choose to allow more.

The rule in one sentence

Bill 44's minimums do not apply to land that is not connected to a water or sewer system provided as a service by a municipality or regional district. That is section 481.4(1)(c) of the Local Government Act, and it is one of the five statutory exemptions alongside heritage designation, large lots and the large-lot subdivision zones.

Read with the rest of the section, the requirement is that a lot be on both systems. A lot with city water and a septic field is not connected to a sewer system. A lot on a private well with a sewer connection is not connected to a water system. Either way it falls outside the 3, 4 and 6 unit minimums. The reasoning is practical: four households on one septic field, or on one well, is a health and engineering problem that zoning alone cannot solve.

Connected is not the same as serviced area

This is where most mistakes happen, including in software. Cities publish maps of where sewer is available: sewer service areas, sewer bylaw areas, urban servicing boundaries. A lot inside one of those polygons is in a place where sewer exists. It is not necessarily connected to it.

Older suburban streets often have a sewer main in the road and houses still on their original septic fields, because the owner never paid to tie in. Under the Act, that house is not connected. The reverse also happens: a lot just outside a service-area line can have a lateral running to it.

Service-area polygon

What it shows

Where a system is available or planned

Examples

Sewer specified areas, servicing boundaries, sewer bylaw areas

Risk

Marks unconnected septic lots as serviced, so the count is overstated

Per-lot connection data

What it shows

Whether this parcel has a lateral or a service account

Examples

Sanitary laterals, service connections, connection counts per parcel

Risk

Few cities publish it, and it can lag new connections

ZoneScout uses per-lot connection data where a city publishes it, and says when it cannot confirm a connection rather than assuming one.

Where the exemption bites

In dense cores like Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond it barely matters, because essentially every lot is connected. It matters on the suburban and semi-rural edge, where large residential lots inside city limits were built on septic decades ago.

ZoneScout analysis. Township of Langley uses the Township's own per-parcel sewer and water connection counts (September 2026). Surrey: 1,339 of 71,535 lots in the 4 and 6 unit bands. Lake Country: October 2026 map.

The Township of Langley is the clearest case. Its parcel data records the number of sewer and water connections on each lot, so the test can be run directly. When we applied it in September 2026, 5,959 lots that had been shown at 4 units dropped to 2. Surrey publishes its sanitary laterals; 1,339 lots in its multiplex bands sit more than 60 m from one. Lake Country requires both laterals to be positively confirmed, and on 1,114 lots they are not, so the map shows the zone's base count.

Langley Bill 44 map · Surrey Bill 44 map · Lake Country map

My city's bylaw doesn't mention it. Does it still apply?

Yes. The exemption is in provincial law, so it binds every municipality whether or not the local bylaw repeats it. Surrey, the Township of Langley and Chilliwack write servicing into their own small-scale housing clauses. Delta's and Maple Ridge's bylaws do not mention it, but it applies there just the same.

What the bylaw does control is what happens next. A city can allow more than the minimum on an unserviced lot if it wants to. And where a bylaw writes connection as a condition, as Chilliwack's s.4.08(7) does, connecting the lot is what unlocks the 3 or 4 unit count. A city that relies on the exemption must also notify the Minister in writing, identifying the land, under s.481.4(2).

Sources

1. Local Government Act, s.481.4 (BC Laws)
2. City of Chilliwack Zoning Bylaw 2020, No. 5000, s.4.08(7)
3. ZoneScout servicing audit of 10 cities, September 2026, and Bill 44 maps, October 2026

Frequently asked questions

Does Bill 44 apply if my lot is on a septic system?

Not its 3, 4 and 6 unit minimums. Land not connected to a municipal or regional sewer system is exempt under Local Government Act s.481.4(1)(c). The requirement to allow one extra unit, such as a suite, still applies, and your city can allow more.

What if my lot is on a well but connected to city sewer?

It is still exempt. The lot needs to be connected to both a municipal or regional water system and a municipal or regional sewer system for the multiplex minimums to apply.

If I connect to the sewer, can I then build a fourplex?

Once connected, the servicing exemption no longer applies, so the lot can qualify if it passes the other tests and the zoning gives the higher count to connected lots. Confirm with the city how its bylaw treats a newly connected lot before you pay for the connection.

Is a community water system run by an improvement district enough?

The Act refers to a system provided as a service by a municipality or regional district. Water from an improvement district or a private utility may not meet that wording. Ask the city how it applies the test to your supplier.