The case for freehold townhomes

B.C.'s land title laws are standing in the way of Vancouver welcoming a form of housing that could add to diversity in the city and help to improve housing affordability.

Throughout Eastern Canada, the U.S. and much of the rest of the world, row townhomes owned as free hold property have existed for centuries.

Victoria has been asked to change the law that is preventing Vancouver from seeing this form of housing become commonplace here, but the provincial government is slow in responding.

Freehold or fee-simple-owned attached zero-lot-line row houses are a common form of innner-city and suburban housing both new and old - almost everywhere except Vancouver.  This form of housing uses land more efficiently than probably any other form of ground-oriented housing - housing in a form that has direct access from the street.

Typically a row townhome is a two or three-storey single-family home attached to other townhomes.  It is usually built along a street with its own front and rear entries.  In most other places in the world, the townhomes own the entire footprint, including any front or rear yard....Read More

Source of Photo & Text: The Vancouver Sun

B.C. Land Title Act > click here

B.C. Strata Property Act > click here