What is the province proposing?

As part of its plan to return more units to the residential market, the province proposes to broaden the definition of short-term rentals to cover any accommodations being rented for fewer than 90 consecutive days at a time. The proposed provincial rules would allow renting out a principal residence or a basement or secondary suite on that property. Most jurisdictions define a principal residence simply as where a homeowner or renter lives for the majority of the time.

 It is proposing oversight in the form of a short-term rental registry for all properties that are rented for fewer than 90 days. This registry will allow cross-checking with information about principal residences that the province already has collected for its speculation and vacancy tax.

 The province’s new legislation would not allow condo investment properties which are not a principal residence to be rented out for a period less than 90 days.

 The City of Vancouver’s current rules allow condo investment properties to be rented out for periods of 31 to 90 days. So if the provincial legislation is approved, it would mean such listings in Vancouver would not be allowed.

The Ministry of Housing says that when a city bylaw is more stringent than the proposed B.C. legislation, the local city bylaw will remain in force.

 In Vancouver, it would mean that renting a basement or secondary suite that is part of a principal residence for less than 30 days will continue to not be permitted.

 How are municipalities and the market responding?

 The City of Vancouver said in a statement that it is taking its time to consider the proposed provincial legislation.

 “Until the city says where it stands, there is confusion,” says Jordan Deyrmenjian, who runs Vancouver-based Artin Properties, which manages 160 short-term rentals in the Metro Vancouver area.

 He said he was in touch with clients, lawyers and the city, trying to get answers.

 He said the province’s definition of a short-term rental could restrict and hurt a part of the market that is used by visitors in town for medical reasons or because they have been temporarily displaced from their homes by a fire or flood, or because they are newcomers in transition.

 The province clarified that it will allow short-term rentals of principal residences for up to 90 days — such as well people are away for work or vacation — but not short-term rentals of investment properties, such as a second or third property that isn’t a principal residence.

What’s the rationale behind the province’s definitions? Will there be exceptions?

 Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon told reporters Wednesday that while individual municipalities will have some flexibility to make changes, the definition of short-term rentals as any property rented for fewer than 90 days would apply provincewide.

 That means rentals under 90 days could only be offered in rooms or secondary suites of a home that is the principal residence of the person offering the rental. The new rules would apply in cities with a population of 10,000 or more, plus nearby smaller communities.

 “That’s a provincial rule that we’ve set in place. But local governments do have the ability to adjust for other changes that are within their municipality. But (for) short-term rentals, we are shifting to 90 days,” said Kahlon.

 Kahlon said the B.C. government didn’t want to make the same mistake as Toronto, which defined short-term rentals as properties rented for fewer than 28 days. As a result, thousands of people listed their short-term rentals for 28-day minimums rather than returning them to the long-term market.

“What we’ve learned from them is that we need to go to 90 days to ensure that the housing stock becomes available.”

 But Kahlon said there will be flexibility in the regulations, not yet made public, to accommodate some people who need a rental for fewer than 90 days for such reasons as work or medical treatments.

 What do researchers think of the 90-day definition?

 The province’s 90-day definition isn’t common, said David Wachsmuth, a McGill University academic who specializes in how short-term rental markets have hurt housing affordability in cities around the world.

 “But it reflects learning from what’s been happening elsewhere. Probably the big idea is to avoid a Toronto situation, where Airbnb just shifted most listings to 28-day minimums to avoid the city’s rules.”

 He added that if the point of regulating short-term rentals is to get long-term housing back on the market, then a definition of 30 days or less doesn’t make sense. A one-month rental is definitely not long-term housing, he said, so it makes sense to extend regulations to cover properties being rented for a longer period.