Short-term Rentals

Short-term Rentals – BC government restrictions

Short-term Rental, airbnb

In October 2023, the BC government passed Bill 35: Short-term Rental Accommodation Act, banning most short-term rentals, except those in principal residences. The goal is to turn short-term rentals ( airbnb ) into long-term homes for people.

Short-term rental listings on online platforms (which may include, for example, Homes on Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia, FlipKey) have expanded rapidly over recent years. Recent data indicates a persistent surge in B.C.’s short-term rental market, reaching unprecedented levels since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This surge has led to a significant shift, diverting thousands of long-term rental homes into the short-term market. Currently, the region boasts approximately 28,000 daily active short-term rental listings, reflecting a notable 20% increase from the previous year. Moreover, the data highlights that over 16,000 entire homes are listed as short-term rentals for the majority of the calendar year.

The legislation focuses on three key areas:

  • increasing fines and strengthening tools for local governments
  • returning more short-term rentals to long-term homes
  • establishing provincial rules and enforcement

Revising the management and oversight of short-term rentals will result in the return of thousands of homes to the market in the next few years. This initiative grants smaller and tourism-reliant communities the flexibility to choose whether to implement principal residence requirements based on housing pressures in their respective areas.

This legislation will not apply to hotels and motels. Regulations are also being drafted to exempt additional types of properties, for example, timeshares and fishing lodges, which are not intended to be covered under the scope of the legislation.

Communities with principal residence requirement

Communities where the principal residence requirement will be applied are listed below – communities with a population of more than 10,000 people and those immediately adjacent to them.

Communities adjacent to larger municipalities are defined as smaller communities less than 15 kilometres away from a larger community with the principal residence requirement.

When regulations are released, it is intended that communities over a 3% vacancy rate (using the most current data available) may request an exemption from the principal residence requirement.

Timeline of legislation for Short-term Rentals (airbnb)

The proposed legislation and accompanying regulations will come into effect in a phased-in approach.

Phase 1  –  Increasing fines (immediately after the legislation is passed and receives royal assent)

  • Fines
    • Forthcoming regulations are intended to increase fines under the municipal ticketing information (MTI) system in the Community Charter and Vancouver Charter By-law Enforcement Ticket Regulations from $1,000 to $3,000 per infraction, per day.
    • Increase the maximum fine regional districts can set for prosecutions of bylaw offences to $50,000 (consistent with the maximum fine for municipalities under the Community Charter).
  • Regional districts
    • Amend the Local Government Act to provide regional districts with the authority to create businesses licences for short-term rentals (airbnb).

Phase 2 – Releasing short-term rental units to long-term use (May 1, 2024)

  • Enacting the principal residence requirement
    • Require short-term rentals (airbnb) to be provided in the principal residence of a host only, plus one secondary suite or laneway home/garden suite on the property in communities with a population over 10,000 people.
  • Removing legal non-conforming use clause
    • Remove legacy protections of non-conforming use of property in the Local Government Act and Vancouver Charter so they do not apply to short-term rentals (airbnb).

Phase 3 – Introducing platform accountability measures (summer 2024)

  • Requiring that short-term rental platforms include businesses licence numbers on listings where they are used by a local government, and to remove listings without them quickly to ensure local rules are being followed.
  • Requiring platforms to provide certain information about listings to the Province on a regular basis and allow the Province to share information with local governments to support bylaw enforcement.

Phase 4 – Creating provincial oversight (late 2024)

  • Creating a registry and requiring all short-term rental hosts to register their short-term rental properties, and require platforms to register their business operations with the Province.

To learn more visit: BC gov. short-term rentals

NOTE: There are asterisks (*) on communities that currently have a vacancy rate above 3% using 2023 CMHC data.

Communities currently exempt from this list may be added if local governments request to join or opt into the principal residence requirement.

The communities with a population of more than 10,000 people (in order of population size) are as follows:

  • Vancouver
  • Surrey
  • Burnaby
  • Richmond
  • Abbotsford
  • Coquitlam
  • Kelowna
  • Township of Langley
  • Saanich
  • Delta
  • Nanaimo
  • Kamloops
  • Chilliwack
  • Victoria
  • Maple Ridge
  • District of North Vancouver
  • New Westminster
  • Prince George*
  • Port Coquitlam
  • City of North Vancouver
  • Langford
  • Vernon
  • West Vancouver
  • Mission*
  • Penticton
  • West Kelowna*
  • Campbell River
  • Port Moody
  • North Cowichan
  • City of Langley
  • Courtenay
  • Squamish
  • White Rock
  • Fort. St. John*
  • Cranbrook
  • Salmon Arm
  • Pitt Meadows
  • Colwood
  • Port Alberni
  • Oak Bay
  • Esquimalt
  • Central Saanich*
  • Lake Country
  • Sooke
  • Comox
  • Powell River
  • Parksville
  • Dawson Creek*
  • Sidney
  • Prince Rupert*
  • North Saanich
  • Summerland
  • Terrace
  • View Royal
  • Coldstream
  • Nelson
  • Williams Lake*
  • Sechelt

The following are adjacent communities and will have the primary residence requirement:

  • Qualicum Beach
  • Metchosin
  • Duncan
  • Cumberland
  • Highlands
  • Anmore
  • Pouce Coupe*
  • Belcarra

Resort regions will be exempt from the principal residence requirement but can opt in if local governments choose to do so. There are 14 resort regions in the province:

  • City of Fernie
  • Town of Golden
  • Village of Harrison Hot Springs
  • District of Invermere
  • City of Kimberley
  • Town of Osoyoos
  • Village of Radium Hot Springs
  • City of Revelstoke
  • City of Rossland
  • Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality
  • District of Tofino
  • District of Ucluelet
  • Village of Valemount
  • Resort Municipality of Whistler

The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only.

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