This past week, the Province of British Columbia proposed restrictions on short-term rentals through the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act.  These restrictions will most certainly present some significant changes in areas such as the Okanagan where a large number of properties are rented on a short-term basis, particularly during the high tourism summer months.

For the purposes of the legislation, “short-term rental accommodation service” will be defined as follows:

means the service of accommodation in the property of a property host, in exchange for a fee, that is provided to members of the public for a period of time of less than 90 consecutive days or another prescribed period, if any, but does not include a prescribed accommodation service

there will be many aspects to this regime including some exemptions and specific defined terms relevant to the legislation, many of which will not be known until the regulations are released.  Violations of the legislation will include fines, which will also serve to increase available fines under the relevant legislation for regional districts, municipalities and similar. 

The new legislation will not apply to reserve lands, hotels, motels and Nisga’a Lands or the Treaty Lands of a Treaty First Nation (subject to an opt in option).

The legislation will also require specific licensing conditions for approved short-term rental accommodation as well as registries to try to ensure compliance and transparency.

Of primary significance is the requirement that in restricted communities being those with populations of over 10,000 people, short-term rentals will only be permitted within a principal residence (i.e. you could not purchase a stand alone property and use it solely for short-term rental purposes within these areas) and not more than one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit in a prescribed location.  It is anticipated there will be an ability for the larger population areas to opt out of the principal residence restriction although the process is not known at this time. 

For these purposes, a “principal residence” is defined as:

 means the residence in which an individual resides for a longer period of time in a calendar year than any other place

The general restriction is set out as follows, with regulations hopefully flushing out some more detail on the allowance under (b) below:

14 (1) Subject to the regulations, if short-term rental accommodation services are provided outside the exempt land in respect of a short-term rental offer, the short-term rental accommodation services must not be provided except in one or both of the following:

(a) in the property host’s principal residence;

(b) in not more than one secondary suite or other accessory dwelling unit that is in a prescribed location in relation to the property host’s principal residence.

Although regulations are not yet available, there are expected to be some exemptions for resort municipalities and smaller municipalities (i.e. under 10,000 population unless located adjacent to a larger municipality), unless the relevant local government requests to opt in to the requirements.

Subject to opt in and opt out requests, the list of communities where the principal residence requirement will apply are listed below:

• Abbotsford
• Anmore
• Belcarra
• Burnaby
• Campbell River
• Central Saanich
• Chilliwack
• Coldstream
• Colwood
• Comox
• Coquitlam
• Courtenay
• Cranbrook
• Cumberland
• Dawson Creek
• Delta
• Duncan
• Esquimalt
• Fort. St. John
• Highlands
• Kamloops
• Kelowna
• Lake Country
• Langford
• Langley (City)
• Langley (Township)
• Maple Ridge
• Metchosin
• Mission
• Nanaimo
• Nelson
• New Westminster
• North Cowichan
• North Saanich
• North Vancouver (City)
• North Vancouver (District)
• Oak Bay
• Parksville
• Penticton
• Pitt Meadows
• Port Alberni
• Port Coquitlam
• Port Moody
• Pouce Coupe
• Powell River
• Prince George
• Prince Rupert
• Richmond
• Qualicum Beach
• Saanich 
• Salmon Arm
• Sechelt
• Sidney
• Sooke
• Squamish
• Summerland
• Surrey
• Terrace
• Vancouver
• Vernon
• Victoria
• View Royal
• West Kelowna
• West Vancouver
• White Rock
• Williams Lake

The expected effective date for the principal residence restriction will be May 1, 2024, with the data sharing and registry releases to follow later in 2024.  More updates will be shared as they become available.

When considering whether a property can be used for short-term rental, provincial legislation would need to be considered alongside municipal requirements for properties to determine what rentals are allowed and what specific conditions are to be met.  There are also considerations such as tax/accounting as well as insurance that an owner would be advised to investigate prior to embarking on short-term rental use.

For more information, please visit the following website: New rules for short-term rentals – Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca)

Author: Una Kuzio

This information is general in nature only. You should consult a lawyer before acting on any of this information. This information should not be considered as legal advice. To learn more about your legal needs, please contact our office at (250)448-2637 or any of our lawyers practicing in the area of real estate at the following:

Una Kuzio: una@touchstone.law

Jane Otterstrom: jane@touchstone.law