(Victoria) The British Columbia government has introduced legislation that would put the brakes on what it sees as a rapidly expanding short-term rental market.
Premier David Eby said the number of short-term rentals has exploded in recent years and the government is taking steps to restrict “for-profit mini-hotel operators” by introducing new enforcement tools.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon tabled the bill in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, saying there has been “an explosion” of short-term rental housing and that this piece of legislation will target high-need areas in housing.
The law would require short-term rental platforms to share their data with the province for law enforcement and tax purposes, and would limit short-term rentals to the host’s home, to an apartment at basement or a dwelling on a lane of his property.
Most rules will apply to communities of 10,000 or more residents, and a provincial registry of hosts and platforms will be established by the end of next year.
The government says short-term rental listings on online platforms, such as Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia and FlipKey, have grown rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic and are now at an all-time high.
The bill was immediately adopted, and will be studied at second reading on Tuesday.