Central Saanich Mortgage Broker

Can a Central Saanich mortgage be handled remotely?

Yes. A mortgage broker licence in BC is provincial (mine is #MB609900), not city by city.

The process was never built around meeting in person — the application is online, documents go by email or a secure upload link, and most paperwork can be e-signed remotely. The few documents that need a witness get signed with a local lawyer or notary near you, no trip required.

Plenty of clients finish the whole process without meeting in person. Central Saanich works the same way.

Central Saanich, specifically

Central Saanich counted 17,385 residents in the 2021 Census, up 3.4% from 2016. By the District's own figures it covers 41.2 km², 61% of its land is in the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve and only 18% lies inside the Urban Containment Boundary; 54% of the housing stock is single-detached, and the median age in 2021 was 49.6. The Butchart Gardens are in the village of Brentwood Bay, 23 km north of Victoria: they began in 1904 with the restoration of a limestone quarry, became a National Historic Site of Canada in 2004, and report over one million visitors a year.

My mortgage and real estate licences both cover all of BC, so for a home in Central Saanich you can come to me for the mortgage and for buying or selling. Mortgage documents go digital, and most signing happens remotely.

Central Saanich specifics: three to eight units inside the boundary, lot size outside it, and no short-term rentals

Inside the boundary: the Official Community Plan adopted April 24, 2023 draws a confined Urban Containment Boundary around the compact, walkable villages of Brentwood Bay and Saanichton and the Keating Business District, where most future growth will go. Bylaw No. 2196, adopted June 24, 2024, replaced the residential zones inside it with two: the Residential Neighbourhood zone, covering most residential land, permits three or four units depending on lot size, and certain properties along main corridors (the Plan names roads such as Wallace Drive, East Saanich Road, West Saanich Road and Verdier Avenue) are permitted four, six or eight units. An average lot is limited to two buildings with up to four units in total, and large lots to three buildings and six units; one more unit is allowed where it is built and kept as a fully accessible dwelling secured by a covenant.

Outside the boundary the rules change. The District's housing page says that since January 2025, agricultural and rural lots of 1 hectare (2.47 acres) or more can have up to three dwelling units, namely a principal dwelling, a secondary suite and a detached accessory dwelling, while lots under 1 hectare get a principal dwelling with either a secondary suite or a detached accessory dwelling. The Plan also shows the reserve lands of the Tsawout and Tsartlip First Nations under a separate First Nations Land designation.

For suites, the District has waived building permit fees for new secondary suites and for legalizing an existing suite inside a house; community amenity fees are eliminated for two years for rental, affordable and special-needs housing, and development cost charges are reduced for affordable housing. Short-term rentals are out: Central Saanich does not permit the short-term vacation rental of residential properties and encourages long-term rental to meet local housing needs instead.

The Province's five-year housing target for Central Saanich, set June 25, 2024, is 588 units, while the District's Housing Needs Report estimates 1,117 new units needed by 2029 and 3,476 by 2044. The speculation and vacancy tax applies here, so residential owners declare every year, and foreign buyers of residential property pay the additional property transfer tax on top of the regular one.

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