Variance
National Real Estate Exam glossary · Land Use Controls
Definition
An administrative permission to deviate from a zoning requirement—for example, a setback or height limit—granted to an owner who would otherwise suffer undue hardship from strict application of the rule, provided the deviation does not harm the public welfare. It relieves a specific property without rezoning the district.
Variance in plain English
A variance is special permission to break one specific zoning rule because following it exactly would unfairly hurt you — zoning rules being the local laws that say things like how tall a building can be or how far it must sit back from the street. Imagine your lot is an odd triangle shape, and the 'stay 10 feet from the property line' rule would make it impossible to build anything usable; a variance lets you bend just that rule for just your property. The catch is it can only be granted if bending the rule won't hurt the neighborhood or the public. It's a narrow, one-property exception — not a change to the rules for the whole area.
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