Illegal short-term rental listings in BC must be removed from sites, starting today

After months of lead-up and a month-long extension to the deadline, short-term rental (STR) sites such as AirBnB must now remove listings that don’t comply with BC law. Listings have to be registered, and display their registration online, or (as of June 2) the listing will be removed and future ones prevented. By June 23, sites must also cancel future bookings for listed homes that don’t comply.

City of Victoria struggled with enforcement for years

Three years ago, there were hundreds more STRs operating in Victoria than the city had issued licences for. City rules established in 2017 were intended to constrain the effect of STRs on a rental market that has become one of Canada's tightest and priciest. But the city struggled to enforce that law, which relied on complaints and was stymied by the fact that AirBnB and other rental sites didn't require addresses.

Since then, newer provincial rules have required addresses and licences while restricting STRs mainly to primary residences in most major BC communities. These changes went into effect last year through the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act (STRAA) as part of a push to return more units to the long-term rental pool. However, municipalities will be able to opt out of the restrictions if they have vacancy rates over 3% in consecutive years—a milestone Kelowna may soon hit.

Last year, Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto said that provincial enforcement would help take on work that had been “pretty onerous” for the city, and estimated 385 units would be affected by the stricter BC rules. This Feb., the BC Supreme Court struck down a petition against the rental laws by a Victoria rental company owner and others. the court's verdict said that there was not yet any actual enforcement to object to and that the petition was too broad, covering too wide a variety of specific situations.

Tofino opts out, then back in

Municipalities not included in the original list were able to opt-in. Tofino did so, with Mayor Dan Law saying that a quarter of local units were being used as STRs. But this spring council narrowly voted (4-3) to opt back out, with some councillors saying the rules were too restrictive or convoluted.

BC Real Estate Association recently pushed for more exemptions

Requested exemptions would cover film, healthcare, and construction work along with allowing cities to set neighbourhood-based exemptions. Housing minister Ravi Kahlon dismissed the requests this past week. He said the health authorities have already been able to manage worker travel, and that any further carve-outs risk undermining the rules’ ability to help the long-term rental market as intended. [ Vancouver Sun]

There have also been concerns about the effect of the limits on summer tourism, though several designated tourist destinations around BC are automatically exempt.