B.C.’s new short-term rental restrictions now in effect

British Columbia’s new restrictions on short-term rentals are now in effect.

The regulations, which took effect on Wednesday, May 1, are aimed at moving thousands of units listed through services like Airbnb and VRBO from the short-term market to the traditional rental pool.

The rules apply to cities of 10,000 or more and to municipalities that voluntarily opt in. Under the regulations, hosts can only rent out their primary residence or one secondary suite or laneway home. Local governments can apply their bylaws if they are equally or more restrictive than those of the province.

2:01 Pushback over B.C. short-term rental rules

“In the end, the homes in communities are for people in our communities,” Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon told Global News.

The new rules will require short-term rental hosts to have a valid business licence number on display, and platforms will need to share data with the provincial government.

Kahlon said Wednesday that municipalities have already notified it of thousands of listings that don’t follow their local short-term rental bylaws.

Those reports will be forwarded to platforms daily, who will then have five days to take action. If no action is taken, the province will then be able to issue fines.

“We will be giving a bit of a grace period to ensure that hosts understand their obligations — in some cases perhaps they didn’t know that there are additional rules they had to go through, who we want to make sure those provisions are there for them,” Kahlon said.

“But we could see fines for those that are repeat offenders, who have not been paying attention to local government rules, in fact, have disregarded local government rules for years. They might see fines a week from now.”

2:12 Short-term rental rule concerns for B.C. property owners

Airbnb Canada regional lead Nathan Rotman said his company is in daily communication with the province and will abide by the new rules.

But he said Airbnb has significant concerns about elements of the new regulations, which he described as “heavy-handed” and a “one-size-fits-all” solution.

“The rules that are going to come into effect today are going to have a significant effect on the province’s tourism sector just before the summer tourism season arrives,” Rotman said.

Rotman said there are about 200,000 British Columbians who have booked an Airbnb over the summer, and the company is working to communicate with them and the province to ensure people’s plans aren’t disrupted.

He added that the province’s definition of a short-term rental, which counts stays of under 90 days, is “way outside the mainstream,” and will affect people like travelling health-care workers.

And he said the requirement for hosts to have two licences, one with the province and one with their municipalities, added unneeded complexity to the matter.

2:06 Kelowna condo owner concerned over impacts of B.C.’s short-term rental market crackdown

And while key vacation destinations have been exempted from the regulations, Rotman said other vacation homeowners will be affected.

“We’re finding there are some people who are inadvertently caught in the middle,” he added. “We are thinking specifically of people who have a vacation home they use on an occasional basis who will no longer be able to do that if they fall in one of these primary resident adjacent cities.”

Kahlon disputed concerns that there won’t be enough vacation accommodations to support the province’s tourism sector, noting that principal residents can still be listed, and said there was work underway to expand the province’s hotel capacity.

You can find out more about B.C.’s new rules for short-term rentals here.