Achi news desk-
Premier David Eby is warning real estate investors and speculators that his government is tilting the rules towards families looking for homes as it tightens the rules on short-term rentals.
Eby said Thursday that the rule change on May 1 will limit short-term rental units to a host’s primary home, but the move is not a ban on platforms like Airbnb if they are not used to create de facto hotels from BC’s housing stock.
“If there is a big event [such as a] A Taylor Swift concert, a FIFA-like event and someone who wants to rent out their primary residence and go away for the weekend to avoid the crush of the crowds, they can still do that,” Eby said.
The changes were announced by the government last spring, giving short-term rental owners a year to comply.
Eby said the changes will allow state and local governments to crack down on speculators.
“If you’re flipping homes, if you’re buying places to do short-term rentals, if you’re buying a home to leave empty, we’ve consistently, publicly, repeatedly sent the message: Don’t compete with families and individuals looking for a place to live with your investment dollars.”
Eby made his comments as the province released new figures compiled in March that showed more than 19,000 entire homes were listed as short-term rentals.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the new rules also require short-term rental platforms like Airbnb to share listed property data with state and local governments.
He said they expect a significant number of the homes listed on short-term sites to be back in the long-term rental pool.
“Our view is that even if half of those units came back on the market, that’s significant,” Kahlon said. “The cost of building new homes, when you can get even half of the 19,000 back on the market, that will make a significant difference in our communities.”
He said previous efforts to limit short-term rentals were increasing housing supply in some areas.
“We see, already, in many communities that action is taking place,” said Kahlon. “We’ve heard a lot of stories about people finding rentals now because of short-term rental opportunities coming on the market.”
The new principal residence requirement for short-term rentals will allow local governments to ask a platform to remove listings that do not display a valid business license.
Valid short-term rental hosts will also be required to display a business license number on their listings if a local government license is required.
The new rules will apply to more than 60 BC communities, and Kahlon said a compliance enforcement unit will be phased in to help municipalities deal with rule violations.
Much of the monitoring and enforcement, however, will be done online through a new rental data portal that will allow local governments to track and request the removal of listings from platforms.
“With this new digital portal, local governments will be able to upload, within seconds, listings they believe are operating illegally in their community,” said Kahlon.
The platform will have five days to remove listings that don’t follow the rules, and if they don’t, they’ll be fined, he said, noting that platforms that don’t are fined up to $10,000 per day per listing. they cooperate.
“We believe that is enough of a deterrent for the platforms to cooperate with local governments,” said Kahlon
A website launched Thursday for hosts will allow them to get information about their state and municipality requirements, and their responsibility to notify anyone who has booked.
“Hosts and platforms have a responsibility to notify anyone booking of all changes that have occurred,” Kahlon said. “They’ve been told about this since September or October when the legislation came in, and they’ve had enough time to set up their policies to do that.”
The rules contain some exceptions, including some strata hotels and motels that operated before last December being exempt if certain criteria are met.
Eby said the overall message to property investors looking for short-term returns was clear: Build homes that people need and the government will do everything it can to help speed up the process.
“But if you’re standing neck and neck with a family looking for a place to live, and you’re trying to make a speculative investment, [while] they’re looking for a place to live, we’re going to tilt the deck every time toward that family,” Eby said. “And we’re going to keep doing it.”
Eby also said a positive side effect of short-term rental regulation has been the resurgence of hotel construction, with 1,400 rooms “in the pipeline” in Vancouver.
“Those investors in those hotel rooms weren’t able to make the decision to move forward,” Eby said, noting the previous competition from short-term rentals. “Obviously, with these regulations in place, there will be visitors to stay in hotel rooms, there will be a market for hotel rooms and they make the decision to proceed. This is very good news.”
Property Rights BC of Victoria has filed a lawsuit against the state and city of Victoria to fight the new regulatory system.
She still says the province overstepped its authority and her lawsuit focuses on preserving the rights to own and operate short-term vacation rentals. The organization is also trying to delay enforcement.
When asked about the legal proceedings, Eby said he cannot comment on a matter before the courts, “but what I can say is that we are very confident in the legal authority of the province to regulate the housing sector in this way and we’ll make the necessary arguments in court to address that.”
More communities initially exempt from the province’s new regulations have opted in, including Gabriola Island, Mill Bay / Malahat, Cobble Hill, Cowichan Station / Sahtlam / Glenora, South Lake Cowichan / Skutz Falls, Saltair / Gulf Islands and North Oyster / Diamond. Tofino previously announced that he would opt in.
Municipalities with fewer than 10,000 people, resort communities and regional areas are exempt from a requirement that limits short-term rentals to primary residences and either a secondary suite or a lane home/garden suite.
— With files from Carla Wilson and Cindy Harnett
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