New provincial short-term rental (STR) rules including the principal residence requirement come into effect on May 1, 2024. In addition, the Province has created an STR Data Portal to support local governments with monitoring and enforcement.
The new rules coming into effect include:
- The principal residence requirement, meaning short-term rentals can only be offered in the principal residence of a host, plus one additional unit, secondary suite or laneway home/garden suite on the property in communities where populations are greater than 10,000 people. Strata hotels and motels that have been operating in a manner similar to a hotel or motel before Dec. 8, 2023, and that meet select criteria moving forward, will be exempt from this requirement.
- Non-conforming use of property will no longer apply to short-term rentals. Under previous legal non-conforming use protections, if an existing use of land or a building did not conform to the new bylaw, it would have generally continued with legal non-conforming use.
- Short-term rental hosts will be required to display a valid business licence number on their listing, where a business licence is required by a local government.
- Short-term rental platforms will be required to share data with the Province.
- Local governments can request that a platform remove listings that do not display a valid business licence.
The STR Data Portal will allow local governments to have platforms remove non-compliant listings. Local governments with STR business licensing will be onboarded to the Portal once an information sharing agreement has been signed with the province. The Ministry of Housing has sent invitations to these local governments for an STR Data Portal orientation on May 2, 2024. Local governments without STR business licensing will have the opportunity to onboard at a future date.
More information on the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act, is available on the Province’s webpage.