Property & Building Information
Look up a property's zoning and land use information online, and save yourself a trip to City Hall.
Most residential property and building information you would access at City Hall is available online. Look up a property's zoning, maximum house sizes, survey certificates, utility connections, land use and assessment value.
Zoning, land use & underground utility lookup
Use COSMOS to find out a property's zoning, or about land use and underground utilities.
Maximum house and lot sizes
Follow these steps to find the maximum house size and lot size in COSMOS. Work with your designer to meet the siting/construction perimeters once you've determined them.
- Select 'City Map' from the map type selection prompt, enter the address under 'Address Search' and hit enter.
- On the left hand side of the page under 'Search Results' you will see a wide variety of information about your property.
- Click the 'Print Property Report' link to generate all of the pertinent information into an easy to read report. The size of home you can build is based on each lot's zone.
Under the 'Zoning Details' heading you will find the zone that your lot falls into (it will be two letters such as RA, R1, R2 etc.). - Click on the zone highlighted in blue and it will bring you to the By-law Library. Here you will find information regarding maximum building size, lot coverage, setback requirements, building height and more.
See more COSMOS training videos.
Building information
Use the Building Records Search application to find:
- Copy of a Building Permit (includes issuance date)
- Final occupancy information
- Square footage of a building
- Inspection notes
- Oil/Septic Tank information
Request a survey certificate
A request for a survey certificate must be submitted to Building File Registry by email at buildingfileregistry@surrey.ca. There is no charge associated with this request.
Building plan copies
Residential, multi-family, industrial or commercial
If you require access to plans, contact planrequest@surrey.ca to see if there are plans on file. Make sure to include a completed Building Plan Request Form and any applicable authorizations in your email.
Authorization requirements:
- If you are an agent acting on behalf of the owner, you are required to provide an Owner Authorization Form signed by both yourself and the property's registered owner(s).
- If this is a strata property, you are required to complete and submit the appropriate Strata Council authorization (e.g., Strata Council Minutes Sample) as listed on the Building Plan Request Form.
Comfort letters
A comfort letter is a formal letter provided by City staff who prepare a summary/overview of the property. Information is compiled based on existing historical information in the City’s records. A comfort letter does not provide copies of the documents.
This information can include (but is not limited to):
- Any outstanding violations against the property
- A written record of permits and occupancy dates
- Confirmation of zoning
- Heritage status
- Histories of grow operations
- Environmental concerns
- Fire Inspection dates (only for Commercial/Industrial)
- Any outstanding invoices against the property
Please fill out the request form and email the completed form to comfortletters@surrey.ca or mail the request form and cheque to the Planning & Development Department. Staff will not process the request until payment has been received. Please allow five to seven business days for a response regarding payment. A comfort letter request can take three to four weeks for processing and completion.
To learn more about comfort letters, contact comfortletters@surrey.ca.
Property report
Create a report for a Surrey property to see maps, legal descriptions, assessment values or utility connections.
Engineering drawings
Find a list of matching engineering drawings (as-builts) to open, view, save, or print.
Enter part of the project number in the box.
