Easements and rights of way on a Burnaby lot: what the title decides before design starts

A lot in Burnaby has two boundaries. The survey shows where the land ends. The title shows where your right to build on it ends. Those two lines are different shapes more often than buyers expect, and the second one is the one that decides the floor plan.

We learned that the slow way years ago, and now we pull the title on every lot before the designer opens a file. Here is what shows up on it, what each item means for the house, and where the strips of land that belong to someone else usually hide.

What a title search actually shows

The Land Title and Survey Authority of BC holds the record for every parcel in the province. A title search shows the registered owners, the legal description, the nine-digit parcel identifier (the PID), and then the part that matters to a builder: every charge and legal notation registered against the land.

A charge is any interest in the land held by someone other than the owner. The LTSA's list of common ones includes mortgages, statutory rights of way, easements, covenants, judgments, leases and claims of builders lien. Mortgages and liens are the lawyer's problem at closing. The other three, easements, rights of way and covenants, are ours, because they decide where the house can sit.

One practical note: you cannot search a title by street address. You need the PID or the legal description, and the LTSA's ParcelMap BC tool will give you either from an address. A realtor or a lawyer can pull the search in minutes, and on a Burnaby teardown lot we ask for it before subject removal, along with the documents behind each charge. The one-line summary on the title tells you a right of way exists. The registered agreement tells you what it forbids.

Easements: a neighbour's right over your land

The Land Title Practice Manual describes an easement as a right to the use of, or a right to restrict the use of, the land of another person. It needs two lots: the one that benefits (the dominant tenement, in the legal wording) and the one that carries the burden (the servient tenement). The classic example in the manual is a right of way for a driveway, where one owner grants the neighbour the right to drive across a strip of their property.

The key feature for a builder is that an easement passes with the land. Sell the lot and the new owner inherits the same obligation. A shared driveway easement registered on a Capitol Hill lot decades ago binds whoever builds there in 2026.

What that means in design terms is simple. The strip has to stay open and usable for what the easement grants. You cannot put a garage on it, a fence across it, or a retaining wall through it. On narrow Burnaby lots where a shared driveway runs down one side, the easement often decides whether the garage is attached or detached, where the parking pad lands, and how much side yard is left for windows. We covered the City's own rules for the crossing at the street in our post on driveway and site access design; the easement governs everything from the property line inward.

Statutory rights of way: the utilities' strip

A statutory right of way is different in one way that matters. It has no neighbouring lot on the other end. Section 218 of BC's Land Title Act lets an owner grant an easement without a dominant tenement to the Crown, a municipality, a regional district, a public utility or a pipeline permit holder, for any purpose necessary for the operation and maintenance of that body's undertaking. Registration of the instrument constitutes a charge on the land in favour of the grantee, and the obligations bind every owner after the one who signed it.

In plain terms: a strip of your lot where BC Hydro, FortisBC, Metro Vancouver or the City of Burnaby holds the right to run, reach and maintain their lines, and where they can keep you from putting anything that gets in the way.

Each of those bodies publishes what it will and will not accept inside its strip.

BC Hydro. Its guidelines list buildings or portions of buildings, including foundations and eaves as incompatible uses unless expressly authorized in writing. It asks for buildings to be a minimum of 10 metres from its structures such as poles, towers and anchors, and it allows some uses without a full review: driveways, fencing, and non-permanent sheds under 3.6 metres high with a floor area of 36 square metres or less. The right of way agreement is registered on the title and stays there when ownership changes, and every proposed use inside the strip goes to BC Hydro's Property Rights Services group for review. BC Hydro asks for proposals to be submitted at least 16 weeks ahead of when the approval is needed. That is a schedule item, so it goes on the plan in week one.

FortisBC. Its guide for working near gas lines says a permit is required for any work within a FortisBC statutory right of way, and its list of installations generally not allowed inside one starts with buildings, structures or foundations, including garden sheds, patios, concrete slabs, playhouses and swimming pools, followed by overhanging roofs and balconies. The guide also tells owners to refer to their own registered Statutory Right of Way Agreement, because the exact restrictions vary between agreements across the province. Before any permit application, FortisBC wants a BC 1 Call ticket number, the free locate service every excavator in the province uses to find out what lies underground before digging.

Metro Vancouver. The regional water and sewer mains that serve Burnaby, New Westminster and Coquitlam cross private lots in places, and Metro Vancouver's requirements for work near its system treat construction within 30 metres of its infrastructure as proximal work that it reviews. Work to be built inside one of its statutory rights of way needs a consent letter agreement with Metro Vancouver's Real Estate Services before it starts. On a lot with a regional main underneath, that review reaches into the foundation location, the excavation plan, and where the excavator and the concrete pump can park.

A right of way is the one strip on a lot we will not design across. The rest of the site plan can flex. That strip belongs to someone else's pipe or wire.

Icon Projects Team

Restrictive covenants: a promise not to do something

The third kind of charge limits use rather than access. The LTSA's glossary notes that restrictive covenants must be negative obligations restricting what an owner can do on the land, and section 221 of the Land Title Act says the registrar will not register one unless the obligation is negative.

The version a custom home builder meets most often is a section 219 covenant. Section 219 lets a covenant in favour of the Crown, a municipality or a regional district be registered against a title and enforced against later owners, and it can cover how the land is used, what is built on it, and whether it can be subdivided. Cities use these when they approve something on conditions: a covenant that fixes the building envelope on a steep lot after a geotechnical report, a no-build area beside a watercourse, a heritage covenant that protects a façade, or a condition tied to an earlier subdivision. We see them most on lots that have already been through an earlier approval: a subdivision, a rezoning, or a geotechnical review on the slopes of Burnaby Heights and Buckingham Heights.

The City of Burnaby's own new home construction page tells applicants to identify easements, rights of way and restrictive covenants from the LTSA before applying, to get legal advice on the effect of any restrictive covenant, and warns that a declaration letter may be needed before the permit is issued. We take that as a cue. A covenant is a legal document, and we ask the client's lawyer to read it before the designer relies on our reading of it.

How a charge changes the design

Once the charges are known, we mark each one on the topographical survey the City requires with the engineering pre-application. That step, and what a survey on a custom home lot has to show, is the subject of its own post. The overlay is where the design problem becomes visible.

A rear right of way for a sewer main takes the back strip out of play for the house and the foundation, and usually for a covered porch as well, because of the overhanging-roof rule. A side easement for a shared driveway fixes the garage position. A covenant with a no-build area on a Brentwood slope moves the footprint uphill and may change the foundation type. A BC Hydro right of way along the front means the eaves have to stay out of it, which pulls the whole house back and eats into the rear yard.

A lot with charges on it can still carry a good house. The charges just have to be on the drawing board from day one, so the house is designed once, around the real buildable area.

The costly version of this story is the one where the charge is found at the permit counter. The drawings are done, the engineer has stamped the foundation, and the City's reviewer notes a right of way under the proposed garage. Every drawing goes back for revision, the engineering is redone, and the schedule loses weeks. The cheap version is a title search in week one and a surveyor's overlay in week two.

Encroachments: the reverse problem

The title can also reveal that something on your lot belongs to the neighbour, or that something of yours sits on theirs. A fence, a driveway edge, or the eave of an older house built before anyone measured carefully. These historic encroachments show up either as a registered easement or as a discrepancy between the survey and what is on the ground.

On a teardown, the demolition removes the old encroachment, and the new house is designed inside the true lines. Where the neighbour's driveway crosses onto the lot with no registered easement, the conversation has to happen before construction, because a new fence on the true line will change how the neighbour parks. We would rather have that conversation early and calmly, with the survey in hand, than in the middle of framing.

What we do on every lot

The sequence is the same in Burnaby, Vancouver, Coquitlam or Abbotsford.

We order the title search and every registered document behind each charge. We list them in a one-page memo in plain words: what the charge is, who holds it, what it forbids, and which part of the lot it covers. We send the list to the client's lawyer with any covenant flagged. We give the surveyor the list so the charges land on the topographical survey. And only then does the designer draw a foundation line.

Where a utility holds a right of way, we contact the utility before design rather than after, because BC Hydro's 16-week review window and FortisBC's permit process are schedule items, and because both bodies say clearly that they will review a proposal but will not approve a building inside the strip.

The survey tells you what you bought. The title tells you what you can build on. Read both before anyone draws the house.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an easement and a statutory right of way on a Burnaby lot title?

An easement is a right one property owner holds over a neighbouring property, such as the right to drive across it, and it passes to whoever owns each lot next. A statutory right of way is created under section 218 of BC's Land Title Act and belongs to a public body or utility, such as BC Hydro, FortisBC, Metro Vancouver or the City of Burnaby, with no neighbouring lot involved. Both show up as charges on the title from the Land Title and Survey Authority of BC, and both can limit where a house can go.

Can I build my custom home over a BC Hydro right of way in Burnaby?

As a rule, no. BC Hydro lists buildings or portions of buildings, including foundations and eaves, as uses that are not compatible with its rights of way unless it authorizes them in writing, and it asks for buildings to sit a minimum of 10 metres from its poles, towers and anchors. Any proposed use inside the strip has to go to BC Hydro for review, so we treat the right of way as outside the buildable area from the first sketch.

Can a patio or deck go over a FortisBC gas right of way on my lot?

FortisBC's own guide lists buildings, structures or foundations, including patios, concrete slabs, garden sheds and swimming pools, along with overhanging roofs and balconies, as things generally not allowed within its rights of way. Any work inside a FortisBC statutory right of way needs a permit from FortisBC, applied for with a BC 1 Call ticket in hand. The registered right of way agreement on your title is the document that states the exact rules for your lot.

How do I find out what charges are registered on a Burnaby property?

Order a title search from the Land Title and Survey Authority of BC, either through an LTSA account or at a land title office. You cannot search by street address; you need the parcel identifier (PID) or legal description, which ParcelMap BC can give you from the address. The title lists the owners, the legal description and every registered charge, including mortgages, easements, statutory rights of way and covenants.

What is a restrictive covenant and how does it affect a Burnaby custom home design?

A restrictive covenant is a promise registered on the title that limits what an owner can do with the land, and under BC's Land Title Act it has to be a negative obligation, something the owner must not do. A section 219 covenant in favour of a municipality can restrict how land is used, what is built on it, or whether it can be subdivided. The City of Burnaby asks owners with a restrictive covenant to get legal advice on its effect before a new home application goes in.

Does a shared driveway easement in Burnaby limit where the garage can go?

Yes. A driveway easement gives the neighbouring lot a right to cross that strip, so the strip has to stay open and drivable and cannot be built over or blocked with a garage, a fence or a retaining wall. The garage, the parking pad and the turning space all have to be designed around the easement, and the width of what is left decides whether an attached or a detached garage works.

What happens if a Metro Vancouver sewer or water main crosses my Burnaby lot?

Metro Vancouver treats any construction within 30 metres of its water and sewer infrastructure as proximal work that it must review, and work inside one of its statutory rights of way needs a consent letter agreement with Metro Vancouver's Real Estate Services before it starts. On a Burnaby or Coquitlam lot with a regional main underneath, that review shapes the foundation location, the excavation plan and where heavy equipment can sit.

When does Icon Projects pull the title on a Burnaby or Vancouver custom home lot?

Before design starts, and ideally before the buyer removes subject conditions on the purchase. We order the title search, list every charge on it, and mark each easement, right of way and covenant onto the site survey so the designer works with the true buildable area. Finding a charge at the permit stage means redrawing a house; finding it in week one means drawing it once.