An affiliate of UBC and a division of UBC Properties Trust, Village Gate Homes has, since 2001, been leasing and managing rental homes exclusively to UBC’s faculty and staff. Village Gate Homes manages the entire UBC portfolio of 952 apartments and townhomes, built specifically for faculty and staff who prefer to live on campus.
Revenue generated from faculty and staff rental homes feeds back into UBC’s housing portfolio for further housing construction, regular maintenance and service expenses. Any revenue remaining flows to the UBC Endowment fund to support a range of programs and activities such as scholarships and bursaries across the University.
Village Gate Homes is accepting applications for faculty and staff homes here.
In order for your application to be considered it is to be completed in full. Please note that you will require your UBC ID to submit a complete application form.
Yes, all applicants remain on the waitlist until they either cancel their application or finalize a tenancy in a VGH unit.
In order to qualify for faculty and staff rental homes, your employment status must be “full-time” as defined in your employment agreement with UBC. UBC will check the applicants’ employment status at the time of signing the lease and periodically throughout the duration of the tenancy.
To verify your eligibility for faculty and staff housing, please go to your work profile and check the “Time Type” in Workday to ensure that you have full-time employment prior to submitting your application form for housing.
Additionally, all housing is leased for a minimum 1-year rental contract, which requires you to have at least 12 months of employment term remaining at the time of lease signing.
Once your completed application form is received by Village Gate Homes, your details will be forwarded to UBC for review.
Homes are allocated on a priority basis as approved by the UBC Board of Governors. Homes are first offered to tenure-track faculty, followed by tenured faculty and then to staff and other eligible faculty, including postdoctoral fellows and research associates. Within each of these groups, priority is assessed based on the date of application submission with Village Gate Homes.
The list of applicants along with UBC’s priority allocation, is sent back to Village Gate Homes. When a home becomes available, applicants are contacted based on their priority status as defined by UBC Board of Governors as well as the date of application.
There is also a separate allocation process by UBC HRS for townhomes in which tenured faculty are prioritized.
For further information regarding allocation, please contact the UBC Housing and Relocation Services office.
For those who have secured employment with UBC but have not yet received their UBC ID please ensure to update your application by contacting our Leasing Administrator at info@villagehomes.com.
For those who have not yet secured employment with UBC, we encourage you to apply for housing only after securing employment.
If your personal information and/or housing preferences have changed since application submission, please contact our Leasing Administrator at info@villagegatehomes.com. You will receive a secure link to your application profile from where you can update your information and housing requirements.
Several of UBC’s housing assistance programs for faculty and staff are considered income due to the economic benefit provided. The faculty and staff-restricted rental program through Village Gate Homes is considered a taxable benefit by UBC due to reduced market rates. According to Canadian income tax law, any assistance provided for the acquisition or use of a residence is considered a taxable employment benefit.
UBC, as the employer, is responsible for calculating, reporting, withholding, and remitting tax on both cash and non-cash taxable benefits. UBC withholds income tax from an employee’s pay and remits it to the Canada Revenue Agency. The employee is responsible for paying income tax on these benefits, as well as any applicable Canada Pension Plan contributions or Employment Insurance Act premiums. Taxable benefits related to housing will appear on the employee’s pay stub for each pay period and be listed on the employee’s T4 form. For more information, please refer to UBC.
Residences are located in the neighbourhoods of Hawthorn Place and Wesbrook Place within the UBC Point Grey campus.
Wesbrook Place:
With more than 6,000 homes across 114 acres, Wesbrook Place is UBC’s largest neighbourhood.
At its heart stands Wesbrook Village, home to restaurants, pubs, cafes, shops, a liquor store, and neighbourhood services. Wesbrook Place comes with its very own school, University Hill Secondary School, that offers local kids an ideal place to learn. For community events and social gatherings, the Wesbrook Community Centre houses a fitness centre, a gymnasium, breakout spaces for clubs, music and dance, arts and culture events, as well as rooms for camps and activities for kids.
Sustainable urban design defines the entire neighbourhood, with community parks and spaces for gathering everywhere you look, not to mention, the breathtaking forests of Pacific Spirit Regional Park that are right around the corner.
Hawthorn Place:
Hawthorn Place is a warm and welcoming neighbourhood with easy access to an abundance of greenways that knit seamlessly into the UBC community. The neighbourhood is built around the Old Barn Community Centre, an active hub that which hosts everything from holiday craft events and to summer camps to language workshops.
Village Gate Homes’ parent company, UBC Properties Trust builds all the faculty & staff rental homes on campus, and in accordance with UBC’s green building rating system – Residential Environmental Assessment Program (REAP).
REAP provides a sustainability framework to ensure all UBC residential development responsibly addresses water conservation, energy-use reduction and reduced environmental impact on both the building site and the community at large.
Village Gate Homes adds new residential properties to their portfolio approximately every 2 years. For details on future neighbourhood development, please visit the Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood development plan. The plan projects rentals to comprise up to 30% of future campus housing, with at least 20% exclusively for faculty and staff, and up to 10% for the general public.
To learn more about the latest development and planning projects taking place in the UBC neighbourhoods, please visit UBC Campus and Community Planning.
UBC Campus and Community Planning outline policies around land, buildings, infrastructure and transportation that support the campus’ short and long-term goals. Their key areas of responsibility include long-range planning, land use regulations, campus and landscape design, licensing and permits, sustainability initiatives around transportation and community-building activities.
All tenants are required to submit a Security Deposit that equals half the monthly rental amount (excluding parking) to be eligible to lease an apartment.
For tenants with pets, a Pet Deposit that equals half the monthly rental amount will also be required.
Deposits are due when signing the lease.
All rental agreements are for an initial 12-month fixed term, after which the tenancy continues on a month-to-month basis. Terminating the rental agreement prior to the end of the 12-month fixed term constitutes a breach of the rental agreement, resulting in the tenant being liable for liquidated damages in addition to any applicable move-out charges.
Properties have varying policies regarding utilities. Each property page on this website outlines what utilities are included in the monthly rent and what are to be borne by the resident.
For properties where utilities are borne by the resident, the Property Administrator will notify residents at the time of housing allocation to provide ample time for applying for applicable services. Each property is associated with a specific utility service provider, either BC Hydro, UBC Utilities, Corix Utilities or Fortis, the name of which shall be provided.
Residents are responsible for applying for their own television and internet services directly from local service providers. UBC recommends using either Telus or Shaw for the best and more reliable coverage and service in the area.
Residential heating varies by property and your home could be heated either by electric baseboards, radiant floor heating, radiant baseboard heating, or gas fireplaces. Heating can be regulated by residents themselves from settings within their own homes.
Cooling is currently unavailable in Village Gate Homes properties, with the exception of the Oakwood Townhomes and Echo. Residents are however permitted to have portable air conditioning units in their homes. AC units that are window mounted are not permitted.
UBC understands that your pets are part of your family. Hence, over 50% of Village Gate Homes properties are pet-friendly. However, they do come with a few restrictions, namely:
Each property page on this website specifies whether pets are permitted and those that are pet-friendly limit 2 pets to each home.
Permitted pets include dogs and cats. Fish, rodents, birds, reptiles, and other exotic animals or caged animals are not permitted.
Large dogs over 51 lbs in weight are not permitted.
For the safety of other residents in the property and area, the following dog breeds are prohibited but are not limited to Bull Terrier, Chinese Shar-Pei, Doberman, Great Dane, Japanese Akita, Neapolitan Mastiff, Rottweiller, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and any dog that has previously been deemed vicious or is known to have bitten or attacked other dogs or humans.
Residents will be required to provide the following information to Village Gate Homes at the time of lease or prior to a pet entering the home:
Every property has a gated underground parking with interior access to the building. Parking stalls are available at a monthly rate and are subject to availability. Some properties have visitor parking available for guests.
EV charging stalls are available at Cypress House, Pine House and Oakwood properties for residents.
Public neighbourhood EV stations located at Wesbrook Place are also available and can be used by residents.
There are designated car wash stalls in select buildings, which residents can use to wash their cars. These car stalls are equipped with a hose and proper drainage for self-service car washing. Where a specific parkade does not have a designated car wash, residents may not wash their car inside.
While washing your car, please note that only vehicles being washed are permitted inside the stall, and that the stall must remain clear at all times.
Bike storage is not permitted in the interior common areas, units or balconies. Designated bike storage lockers are available in the parkade of most Village Gate Homes properties and outdoor racks at most building entrances at no extra charge. Bike storage is limited to 1 bike per family member.
All bikes must be stored in an operable condition and only locked in areas designated for bike storage. Bikes that are deemed to be abandoned or illegally stored will be removed by Village Gate Homes during periodic audits.
Owners are responsible for their own property and securing their bikes with locks, and Village Gate Homes will not be held responsible for theft or damage.
Individual bike racks are also available at parkade stalls in Nobel House and Webber House. Parking stalls are available at a monthly rate of $65 per stall and are subject to availability.
Storage lockers are subject to availability at all properties at the parking level for a monthly rental rate. The monthly rate may vary depending on the material and size of lockers. Lockers can only be used to store non-perishable, non-food, inflammable items.
Village Gate Homes is not responsible for the theft or damage of items in the storage locker. All items must be stored within the assigned locker. Items left outside a locker will be removed by Village Gate Homes.
Tenancy Insurance is required and mandated in all Village Gate Homes rental agreements. Residents must provide confirmation of an active policy prior to moving into their homes.
Garbage facilities are located indoors at the parking level of all residential properties. Each building has a garbage facility that collects dumpster waste, recycling and compost. Residents are encouraged to sort out their garbage separately.
Recycling and disposal of certain items are not permitted in the onsite garbage facilities. Please contact Green Depot (UNA) for the disposal of those items and hours of operation.
Every resident will be provided with a fob. Replacement or extra fobs will be provided at a price of $70 – $90 per unit.
All properties come equipped with an intercom that is compatible with all local phone numbers.
The Cypress House Reading Room and Pine House Reading Room are available for use only for residents of the property. No reservations nor deposits are required.
The Mundell House Common Room is available for residents to use with a prior booking and on payment of a deposit.
Residents can also reserve rental suites for their guests and are required to pay the deposit at the time of reservation.
Outdoor Courtyards and BBQ areas can be used exclusively by residents. These are available at no extra charge and do not require any reservation.
BBQ areas can be used between 9 am and 9 pm every day. Residents are encouraged to be responsible and clean up after themselves so that they leave a clean space for the next person.
Smoking is not permitted in the outdoor amenity spaces.
If you are a UNA resident, ie, living in a neighbourhood on the UBC Point Grey campus, a UNA Card will provide you with various benefits and access to UBC facilities, local businesses, and the Vancouver Public Libraries. The UNA Card can be used at the following locations:
UNA residents can apply for the card here.
The University Neighbourhoods Association (UNA) oversees the major residential neighbourhoods around UBC’s campus: Chancellor Place, East Campus, Hampton Place, Hawthorn Place, Wesbrook Place, and other designated buildings as stipulated in the Neighbours Agreement 2020.
The UNA manages campus neighbourhood infrastructure, such as street and sidewalk repairs, and regulates matters of concern in the public realm, such as parking and noise.
As an additional service, the UNA ensures that residents have access to UBC athletic facilities and manages two community centres: the Wesbrook Community Centre and the Old Barn Community Centre.
The UNA is also set up to receive and take action on homeowners’ concerns, opinions and views to help shape the future development and allocation of community facilities at UBC. For queries or concerns regarding bylaws, parks, street parking, and noise, contact UNA.
The tenant must give one calendar month’s notice to the VGH Property Administrator before moving out. A move-out package outlining the process will then be emailed to the tenant. A pre-move-out inspection will then be scheduled to assess the apartment’s condition and inform of potential charges (cleaning, drywall repair, carpet repair due to stains, etc). Further details on move-out charges are included in the move-out package.
VGH will reach out to the tenant to schedule the move-out closer to the month’s end, taking place no later than 1:00 pm on the last day of the month. A VGH caretaker will conduct a move- out inspection, and charges deducted from the security deposit will be outlined in the inspection report, with the remainder refunded by cheque and mailed to the tenant’s forwarding address within 15 days.
Please visit the University Neighbourhood’s Association (UNA) FAQ page on parking and contact them if you have any questions.
Internal transfers between VGH suites are permissible only after the initial 12-month lease term has elapsed. Transfers are subject to property management approval and may only be considered upon the tenant providing a valid reason for the transfer, and entail a transfer fee.