Surrey council approves bylaw, policy governing sale of city-owned land
Published 9:15 pm Monday, June 29, 2026
The City of Surrey has set up a policy governing the sale of city-owned land with an aim to ensure compensation remains based on fair market value and passed a bylaw aimed at maintaining “appropriate oversight of significant transactions.”
Surrey council voted on two corporate reports on June 29 related to land transaction rules and passed the bylaw at third reading.
City staff asked council to approve a Real Property Disposition Policy that would establish a “modern framework” for selling City-owned real estate that “provides clear direction for development-related land transactions,” Surrey’s corporate services manager Joey Brar states in one of the reports.
Brar’s department is responsible for managing city hall’s real estate portfolio. He said the policy would apply to all City-owned “real property” and provides “greater clarity regarding appraisal requirements, valuation methodologies, and the timing of valuations used to support transactions involving City-owned land.”
It also seeks to distinguish between development-related obligations like road dedications, statutory rights-of-way and servicing requirements and the purchase of City-owned land,” Brar explained. “This distinction reinforces that compensation for the sale of City land is based on fair market value and is considered separately from other development requirements.”
The other related corporate report before council, from Brar and finance manager Kam Grewal, concerned a Proposed Real Property Transactions Bylaw “which establishes approval authorities and delegation limits for the acquisition, disposition, leasing, and licensing of real property and related interests by the City and approval of the proposed amendments to the Purchasing Bylaw.”
Brar and Grewal noted in their report that city hall routinely acquires, leases, disposes of, and licenses real property and its interests in land “to support the delivery of civic infrastructure, transportation projects, utilities, parks, public safety facilities, affordable housing initiatives, and other municipal objectives” and that these transactions range from routine statutory rights-of-way and short-term leases to “significant property acquisitions and dispositions.”
“Authority for real property transactions is currently exercised through a combination of Council approvals, corporate policy, and administrative practice. While this framework has supported the City’s operational needs,” the report reads, “the City does not currently have a dedicated bylaw establishing approval authorities and delegation limits for real property transactions.
The proposed bylaw “addresses this gap by providing a clear and consistent framework for the approval and administration of real property transactions.
While staff can approve “routine transactions” within certain limits, “higher-value, longer-term, or otherwise significant transactions will continue to require council approval.
The bylaw is intended to “improve administrative efficiency by reducing the need for routine real property matters to be brought before council while maintaining appropriate oversight of significant transactions.”