LANGLEY – New short-term rental rules that will deliver more homes for people are set to come into effect on May 1, 2024, as the Province releases additional information to guide hosts, platforms and visitors through the changes. The new rules that will take effect May 1, 2024, are:
* 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.
In addition to the short-term rental rules going into effect, 17 communities initially exempt from the legislation have requested to opt in to the Principal Residence Requirement. For those communities, the new short-term rental rules will take effect on Nov. 1, 2024.