Not to be confused with the City of West Kelowna across the bridge — this is the bench and hillside area on the Kelowna side of the lake, and it falls under the city's own zoning bylaw, not West Kelowna's.
Written by Serge, Founder, Kelowna Carriage Homes
The name causes real confusion, so it is worth being direct about it. "Westside Kelowna" refers to bench and hillside residential streets within Kelowna's own city limits — historically annexed areas on the western edge of the city, on the Kelowna side of Okanagan Lake. It is a different place from the City of West Kelowna, the separate municipality reached by crossing the William R. Bennett Bridge, which has its own council and its own zoning bylaw. That distinction matters for this page, because it means everything City of Kelowna publishes about carriage houses and secondary suites applies here — not West Kelowna's rules, which are meaningfully different (we cover those on our West Kelowna page).
Lots in this part of the city tend toward bench and hillside terrain, with a mix of older homes on standard city lots and newer infill built after annexation. Because it sits within Kelowna proper, water, sewer, and road infrastructure are already in place — a meaningful head start on any secondary-suite or carriage-house project compared with a rural acreage still on well and septic.
Because this area is a mix of older standard lots and newer subdivided parcels rather than one uniform lot size, we do not assume a single answer here the way we might for a neighbourhood of uniformly large or uniformly small lots. Some parcels have the depth and side-yard clearance for a detached carriage house; others are a better fit for a secondary suite inside the existing house. The starting point is the same either way: pull the zoning for the specific parcel, measure the buildable footprint against setbacks, and check what's already built on the lot.
That is the honest answer, and it is also the reason we do not publish a blanket "carriage house works better here" claim for this area the way we can for a neighbourhood with more consistent lot patterns.
Because this area is inside Kelowna city limits, it is governed by the same Zoning Bylaw No. 12375 as the rest of the city: a detached carriage house is capped at 90 square metres (about 970 square feet), one per lot, not stratifiable, with accessory buildings limited to roughly 14% site coverage and a minimum one additional parking stall at 2.75 by 6.0 metres. Full detail sits on the city's carriage houses and secondary suites page — and it is worth checking that page (or asking us) for your specific zone, since RU1, RU2, RU4, and RU6 zones do not all carry identical secondary-dwelling allowances.
The province's Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing legislation, in force since late 2023, applies here too, pushing municipalities including Kelowna toward permitting more units on lots that used to allow only one detached house.
A turnkey carriage home costs $350,000 to $550,000, roughly $400 to $550 per square foot for a smaller unit; a secondary suite conversion runs $60,000 to $150,000. Expect 3 to 5 months for design and permitting and 5 to 8 months on site once permits are issued, with the City of Kelowna quoting a 4 to 6 week review window for a clean application.
The province's $40,000 Secondary Suite Incentive Program closed to new applicants on March 30, 2025. A proposed federal $80,000 loan announced in December 2024 was not carried into the 2025 federal budget. What remains active is CMHC-insured refinancing up to 90% of home value (properties under $2,000,000) specifically to fund a secondary suite, available since January 15, 2025, plus a CleanBC heat pump rebate of up to about $5,500.
Kelowna renters paid an average of $2,118 a month for a two-bedroom and $1,596 for a one-bedroom in 2025 (CMHC), with vacancy up to 6.4% from 3.8% the prior year — figures we use citywide because CMHC does not break rent data down to individual Kelowna neighbourhoods.
A detached one- or two-bedroom home in the back yard, on the same title.
Learn more →Legalize and finish space you already own.
Learn more →What your specific parcel is zoned for, and what it allows.
Learn more →Grants, rebates, and refinancing options, current as of 2026.
Learn more →A different municipality with its own bylaw — do not confuse the two.
Learn more →Kelowna's oldest, narrowest lots.
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Costs, timelines, rents, and incentive amounts on this page are estimates from the sources cited, current as of September 2026. Each is confirmed in writing in your free feasibility study. Licensed and insured; documentation available on request.