B.C. struggles with short-term rentals

B.C. Premier David Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon announced the introduction of the Short-Term Accommodations Act in the province. It involves the regulation of this market by the government and the introduction of new rules.

The essence of the law

Changes to the operation of short-term lettings will come into effect in phases and will be led in three main areas:

• penalties and new enforcement tools (e.g., requiring online short-term rental platforms to share data with the province or include business license numbers in advertisements);
• returning more short-term rental housing to the long-term rental pool (through regulation of the location of such housing);
• Establishing and enforcing provincial regulations (establishment of a short-term rental market registry and a provincial oversight body).

“Anyone who’s looking for an affordable place to live knows how hard it is, and short-term rentals are making it even more challenging,” said Premier David Eby. “The number of short-term rentals in B.C. has ballooned in recent years, removing thousands of long-term homes from the market. That’s why we’re taking strong action to rein in profit-driven mini-hotel operators, create new enforcement tools and return homes to the people who need them.”

In the long-term rental market, the province estimates that there are currently 28,000 short-term rental properties across British Columbia. A significant percentage of these are managed by legal entities rather than people renting out their own homes or vacation properties. According to the province, up to half of them do not comply with existing municipal regulations.

When can we expect to see a change?

Fines for violations will increase immediately upon signing the law, from CA$ 1,000 to CA$ 3,000. The maximum fine that regional districts can seek in court for violating the statute is increased to CA$ 50,000.

By May 2024, the province already plans to implement a basic requirement for short-term rentals — people will only be able to rent out the property they live in most of the year. This change will affect municipalities with populations greater than 10,000, but will not affect the resort towns of Whistler, Tofino and Osceola.

Another important change will be implemented by next summer. Online platforms (Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia, FlipKey and others) will be required to publish landlord license information and share all available information about them with provincial authorities. Based on this data, a full-fledged short-term rental registry will be in place by the end of 2024. These and other regulations will be monitored by a specially created supervisory authority.

Stakeholder positions

The province's official website emphasizes that the law is needed to protect the interests of B.C. residents suffering from a housing shortage. The problem was summarized by Kahlon, who described a scheme in which companies become middlemen who rent long term and re-rent short term. Kahlon blamed them for the crisis in the housing market and addressed them directly:

"Those of you that are renting dozens of short-term rentals to make a huge profit while taking away homes for people – you should probably be thinking about a new profit scheme in the very near future."

In response, reporters received a comment from Airbnb representatives. It said that this way the government would not alleviate the housing crisis, but would simply take money out of people's pockets, inflate the cost of housing for visitors to the province and reduce tourism revenues.

"We hope the B.C. government will pursue more sensible regulation and listen to the many residents – hosts, travellers and businesses – that will be impacted by the proposed rules," Airbnb's press office said.

Previously, some 30 municipalities in B.C. have already introduced bylaws and license fees to deal with the growing need to regulate short-term rentals.