The Government of British Columbia has passed the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act (the Act) to address long-term rental housing shortages in the Province. Key aspects of the Act are as follows:

• Increase of fines by regional districts and local governments for non-complying owners;
• Short-term rentals will be restricted to a host’s principal residence plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit in most larger communities;
• Short-term rental providers will have to obtain a provincial registration number and a valid business licence number and post such information on their listing if required; and
• The foregoing regulations will come into effect in a phased approach over the next two years.

Overview

The Act aims to give local governments stronger tools to enforce short-term rental bylaws, return short-term rental units to the long-term rental market and establish a new provincial role in the regulation of short-term rentals.

Short-term rentals are defined under the Act as accommodations provided to members of the public in a host’s property, in exchange for money, for a period of less than 90 consecutive days. The new rules will apply to all short-term rentals being offered to the public, including offers on platforms or forums such as Airbnb, Expedia, Flipkey, VRBO, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Kijiji and classified ads in newspapers. The Act will not apply to hotels and motels, vehicles such as RVs, temporary shelters and First Nations Reserve Lands or Treaty Lands (e.g., Nisga’a Lands) unless a Nation chooses to opt in to all or part of the Act.

Prosecution for offences

Upon receipt of Royal Assent on October 26, 2023, the Act (i) increased the maximum fine that regional districts can set to prosecute bylaw offences from CA$2,000 to CA$50,000 and (ii) increased the maximum municipal ticketing fine that municipalities, regional districts and islands trust can issue from CA$1,000 to CA$3,000 per infraction, per day.

Principal residence requirement

Starting May 1, 2024, the Province will implement a principal residence requirement that limits short-term rentals to the host’s principal residence plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit. This requirement will apply to communities with a population of 10,000 people or more as well as smaller neighbouring communities. There will be limited exemptions to properties such as timeshare properties, hotels, motels, lodges, student accommodations and strata guest suites as well as to certain communities such as farm land, ski and resort regions and Trust areas under the Islands Trust Act.

Designated Resort Municipality Initiative communities will be exempt from the principal residence requirement unless the local governments choose to opt in. Most ski resort areas in the province are also exempt, including Whistler Mountain Resort, Sun Peaks Resort, Silver Star Mountain Resort, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Red Mountain Resort, Mount Washington, Fernie Alpine Resort, Big White Ski Resort and others.

Under the Act:

• A principal residence is the residence an individual lives in for a longer period during a calendar year than any other place;
• A secondary suite is a self-contained living unit within a dwelling with its own kitchen, sleeping area and washroom facilities; and
• An accessory dwelling unit is a self-contained unit with its own kitchen, sleeping area and washroom facilities, that is located on the same property as the principal residence (e.g., a laneway home or garden suite).

Local governments may enact more restrictive bylaws in addition to the minimum standards set by the province.

Information requirement and data sharing

Starting May 1, 2024, under the Act, the offeror of a short-term rental must include a provincial registration number and business licence number, if required by the local government, on their listing. Additional requirements may be prescribed by forthcoming regulations.

In addition, following the enactment of the principal residence requirement, short-term rental platforms will be required to share information about short-term listings with the Province, who then can share this information with local governments. The information will remain confidential and not disclosed to the public.

Establishment of a provincial registry

In late 2024, the Province plans to create a short-term rental registry to regulate short-term rental hosts and provide information for local governments and the Province to follow up, if necessary. Platforms will be required to validate registration numbers on host listings against the Province's registry data. Further, if a listing does not include a valid business licence where required, the platform must remove the listing at the request of the local government.

Implications

The Act and its regulations will have impacts across the Province’s rental market and real estate industry. In addition to complying with any applicable local government bylaws, property owners engaging in short-term rentals of property located in non-exempt communities will have to consider whether the Act applies to their property, and if so, what additional measures may be required to ensure compliance with the legislation. Furthermore, developers should consider whether the enactment of the Act results in any misrepresentations in existing disclosure statements filed under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act , which may need to be corrected by filing an amendment.

As the Act will be implemented over the next two years, Dentons will follow the developments and provide updates. For any questions, please contact the authors, Andrew Mollard and Jeff Wong.

Thank you to Mary Su, an articling student in Dentons Vancouver office, for her assistance with this insight.