Salt Spring Island real estate tip on Building schemes.

I had a customer a few months back and she was looking for a house to turn into a B&B and one area has a building scheme in place that does not allow B&B's. Sure enough there is a new B&B in the house we did not look at.

That really burns. For those of us that follow the rules it is just a little frustrating. Salt Spring is governed by the Islands Trust and the CRD (capital regional district). Both of these bodies work on a complaint basis and if they hear no evil they see no evil.

Like one of the building inspectors told me one day "on my days off I don't see anything. If I did no one would invite me to their home".

This really puts "due diligence" into a difficult spot. Things like rented in-law suites, vacation rentals, studio rentals are contrary to all the rules.

Salt Spring is a mine field of rules and no one seems to follow any.