May 1 2024 From the province:

The new rules for short-term rentals are now live:

• 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.

• The Principal Residence Requirement will function as a provincewide floor for communities with populations of more than 10,000 people, but local governments will still be able to use existing bylaws and introduce additional bylaws that are more restrictive.

• The Principal Residence Requirement will come into effect in more than 60 communities throughout B.C.

• 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 the Principal Residence 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.

Full requirements for hosts and platforms to comply with the new rules have also been released and are available in Backgrounder 1 and here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/short-term-rentals

READ the full release here.

New rules for short-term rentals