Mixed reviews on B.C.'s plan to crack down on short-term rentals

In an effort to correct the housing crisis in B.C., the province is cracking down on short-term rentals. It will be rolling out new legislation that it hopes will help put more long-term rental units back into the market.

"The tools that weren't available to local government previous is now available to them through this legislation,” said Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s housing minister.

The government is taking a number of actions including creating a database of legal short-term rentals throughout the province that municipalities will be able to access.

The province will also create a short-term rental and compliance department to help municipalities enforce fines against those operating without a licence.

As well, fines will increase from $1,000 to $3,000 per day for those breaking the rules.

The big game changer, in order to now operate a short term rental, it must be in one’s principal residence only.

“Any rule that is going to potentially shift housing into the rental pool and out of Airbnb is fantastic,” said Robert Berry, a volunteer with Homes For Living.

Still, the capital region’s housing advocacy group Homes For Living is tempering its enthusiasm, saying this is a start but no a total fix.

“The CRD area is short tens of thousands of homes, so 800 units coming online is like two high school graduating classes,” said Berry.

“I’m totally a service-based business, and this would kill my business absolutely,” said Nancy Paine, CEO and founder of SpaceHost, a short-term rental management company based in Victoria.

Currently Paine’s company employs 15 people and manages 58 units in Victoria.

“I have one primary resident owner,” said Paine.

Every other unit in her portfolio would become illegal under the province’s plan.

Paine agues the units she manages, if put back into the long-term rental pool, will do nothing to increase rental affordability in the capital region.

“Many of them are $700,000 condos, multimillion dollar condos, they are not affordable rental stock,” said Paine.

Short-term rental giant Airbnb agrees with Paine, telling CTV News in a statement: “The B.C. government’s proposed legislation won’t alleviate the province’s housing concerns, instead it will take money out of the pockets of British Columbians, make travel more unaffordable for millions of residents who travel within B.C. and reduce tourism spending in communities where hosts are often the only providers of local accommodations.”

"This new legislation and the registry will create the ability to just spit out a print out of numbers of the business licences that they can match up with the business licences on the platforms which will be legally required to cooperate with us,” said David Eby.

The new rules only apply to municipalities with a population over 10,000, although smaller municipalities can decide to opt-in to the program if they want to.

If passed, the fines would start in May 2024, but the full range of changes would be in place by the end of next year.