B.C. is facing a housing crisis, with a shortage of all forms of attainable housing, including long-term rentals.
The rise of short-term rental of entire homes is taking away much needed homes for British Columbians. Data shows that more than 16,000 entire homes are being used as short-term rentals for the majority of the year in B.C. This is making it more challenging to find affordable long-term rentals.
Many local governments have taken action to regulate short-term rentals, but enforcement of bylaws is a challenge, and they have asked the Province for more tools and resources.
The purpose of the Act is to:
• Give local governments stronger tools to enforce short-term rental bylaws
• Return short-term rental units to the long-term housing market
• Establish a new Provincial role in the regulation of short-term rentals
The Act applies to short-term rentals being offered to the public including:
• Offers hosted by a platform, where people reserve and pay for the rental service (which may include for example, Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia, and FlipKey)
• Offers on other web listing forums (which may include for example, Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and Craigslist)
• Listings in classified ads in newspapers
The Act will not apply to:
• Reserve lands
• Nisga’a Lands or the Treaty Lands of a Treaty First Nation (unless the Nation chooses to opt into all or part of the legislation through a coordination agreement with the Province)
• Hotels, motels
• A vehicle, such as an RV
• A tent or other temporary shelter
As of May 1, 2024, the Province is implementing a provincial principal residence requirement which will limit short-term rentals to:
• The host’s principal residence
• Plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit
For more info check out https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/short-term-rentals
