As Vancouver residents continue to speak up about the growing number of homes being turned into short term rentals through services like Airbnb, a city in Germany may have found a way to strengthen regulation.
Berlin, another city with a very low rental rate, is taking drastic measures to regulate short-term rentals.
As of May 1, after a two-year grace period, if an owner rents out his or her condo in its entirety without a city permit, the owner could face a fine of more than $100,000.
Vancouver is currently reviewing short-term rental regulations, after councilor Geoff Meggs put forward a motion to look into the impact on the city’s housing stock.
READ MORE: Burnaby woman says landlord evicted her so he could list home on Airbnb
The motion stipulated the city’s zoning and development bylaw prohibit rentals that are less than 30 days, unless approved by the city.
“We are working with Airbnb to get their data and understand how many places are in their system. It’s positive for some people being able to rent out rooms through Airbnb but we know it’s impacting our rental supply,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson to Global.
He said Vancouver does not have the power Berlin does when it comes to regulation.
“We need more support from the province and the federal government to get more rental housing built to deal with the affordability crunch that we are facing.”
The city’s vacancy rate is near zero.
READ MORE: Some Vancouver stratas aim to crack down on short-term rental sites like Airbnb
Rosamund Card is one renter looking for a vacancy in the city, “I’ve been looking off and on in Vancouver and North Vancouver for about a year to live alone, and to not share a place with several other people, there’s very few places.”
So far she has found only one place in North Vancouver that is affordable, but the building has had no vacancies.
To her surprise, she found more than 300 condos, apartments and rooms available on Airbnb’s website in North Vancouver.
“I called the district of North Vancouver and I heard back and he basically told me they don’t have the manpower to enforce it.”
In the Lonsdale Quay area alone Card found almost 100 rentals available through Airbnb.
With files from Ted Chernecki
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