New STR Licensing Rule in Vancouver will shut down ALL downtown condos

Regulations/Tax Issues
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New Airbnb rules could shut down 1,000 short-term listings in Vancouver, says mayor:
Written By Mike Laanela, CBC News Posted: Sep 28, 2016 7:40 AM PT

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says a new proposal that would require people to get a licence for Airbnb and other short-term rentals could put up to 1,000 homes back into the long-term rental pool.

That’s because short-term rentals of less than 30 days would only be legal in homes that are principal residences, Robertson revealed Wednesday at city hall.

“Housing is first and foremost for homes, not operating a business,” said Robertson.

“Both the city’s research and broad public input tells us we can have short-term rentals in Vancouver to help supplement income, while ensuring long-term rents are back in the rental market.”

The proposal comes the week after Robertson revealed a proposal to tax empty or vacant homes that are not principal residences, with the aim of getting empty investment properties back in the rental pool.

Restricted to principal residences

Under the proposed rules for short-term rentals, homeowners would be able to get a licence for their principal dwelling.

They would not be able to get a licence for secondary units on the property — such as basement suites and laneway homes — according to Matheny Krishna, the city’s general manager of building licensing.

“We are defining it by the dwelling unit, not the entire property. So if there are laneway homes and secondary units, those are not considered,” said Krishna on Wednesday.

“Those would be separate units and those would be required to have a licence, or in this case it wouldn’t be their principal unit so they wouldn’t be able to do it.”

But under the proposed rules tenants with long-term leases for secondary units would be able to get licences, but only if they have a landlord’s permission in writing.

Likewise owners of secondary properties such as investment condos or vacation properties would not be eligible to licence units for short-term rentals.

But tenants with long-term leases and the landlord’s permission would be able to get a short-term rental licence for those properties.

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I blocked my listing (condo-entire home) calendar from January 15th 2017 although this bylaw has not passed yet… Anyone from Vancouver here?..

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I can only applaud this new rule.

AirBnB should go back to what is originally meant to be: “People making extra money by sharing their home (or part of it)”.

The big problem is that AirBnB is not cooperating and makes it very hard to check or enforce.
Cities like Amsterdam, London and Barcelona have rules like this, but more than half of the AirBnB’s in these places are not homes, but in fact “illegal hotels”.

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I guess air bnb makes the most money from separate appartment.

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That;s too bad @vancouverhost. I’m from Vancouver but now live in the US, but my brother does Airbnb in Vancouver and so I’ve been following this.

Vancouver is such a weird market because of the foreign investment vacant houses, so I think Airbnb is getting wrapped up in the “lack of housing” argument when really it’s probably 1% of the housing market, and probably 15% of the housing market is vacant from the empty houses. Vancouver also has a very strong hotel presence, and they are for sure big donators to political campaigns.

I would keep going as long as you could - there’s going to be an end, but don’t shut down voluntarily, wait until something happens. The worse that will happen is a fine, and then you pay it. But they have a lot of work to do before they start shutting down every Airbnb listing, it’s a huge undertaking.

good luck to you, it’s a tough situation.

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Am I reading this right? I could rent an apartment and use it as a STR if I have the landlord’s permission but I can’t rent out an apartment I own?

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I agree with Chris. I applaud Vancouver for making AirBnb go back to its roots – Homestay not commercial short-term rentals.

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I don’t know Ken. I think the new rule is saying you would not be allowed to rent out the cabana on your property. I think that’s what it is saying - as that would be considered a “secondary” unit.

It sounds like only people who are renting out a bedroom in the same house are allowed to have licenses.

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What do you guys think of this???

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/airbnb-rental-lawsuit-1.3808555

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Welp, Airbnb is over in Vancouver now.
Only winners are Kitsilano’s single family home hosts.

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Airbnb have brought this on themselves; they could easily hold true to the original ethos but prefer to make as much money as possible and wait for governments to legislate against them. Fair enough…

I’ve seen the Icelandic government plans to go along similar lines because the tourism they’re now experiencing thanks to Airbnb is beyond what they can cope with.