B.C.‘s short-term rental registry ushers in next phase of crackdown

The Airbnb Inc. application is displayed in the App Store on an Apple Inc. iPhone in an arranged photograph taken in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., on Friday, March 8, 2019.

B.C.‘s crackdown on short-term rentals has entered what the housing minister describes as “phase two,” which requires all operators to register with the province.

Ravi Kahlon, at a Monday news conference, said a provincial registration portal is now live.

“Now, anyone wanting to rent their place on short term rental platforms must follow the rules and must register on a single platform,” Kahlon said.

“We believe homes are for people and not for speculation, and this registry will allow us to take enforcement to the next step.”

Platforms like Airbnb and VRBO will be prohibited from listing any B.C. accommodations that do not have a registration number.

By May 1, any listing without a registration number must be pulled down. By June 1, future bookings at unregistered rentals will be cancelled.

Unregistered short-term rentals will be subject to fines for both the operators and any platforms that continue to list them. Fines for hosts breaking the rules range from $500 to $5,000 a day per infraction, and up to $10,000 per day for corporations for platforms.

Registration will be required annually, for a fee ranging from $100 to $600 – depending on the type of short-term rental.

To try and incentivize early registration, those fees will be discounted by 50 per cent through the end of February and 25 per cent through the end of March.

One thing Kahlon said distinguishes the provincial registry from existing local ones is that it is backed by legislation and does not rely on the “good will” of platforms to remove or limit listings that don’t comply with the rules.

As the registry comes online, the Property Rights Association of BC feels it’s an approach which treats all short term rental operators as if they’re the same, without acknowledging those who have been following the rules as they’ve evolved.

Suggested subheader: Property rights group concerned

As the registry comes online, the Property Rights Association of BC feels it’s an approach which treats all short term rental operators as if they’re the same, without acknowledging those who have been following the rules as they’ve evolved.

“The registry should have come out originally,” the association’s Orion Rodgers told CTV News on Monday.

“If it was the first suite of any sort of regulation around short-term rentals. I think the minister would have solved what they felt was the problem and gone after those illegal or bad apples – as opposed to catching everyone with the same net.”

The official opposition also has concerns about the NDP government being overly involved in what it believes is a local government issue.

“Why is the province building a registry and introducing massive new fees for something that should be an exclusively municipal jurisdiction,” Conservative leader John Rustad told CTV News in a statement on Monday.

“This is nothing more than a cash grab thinly dressed up as housing policy.”

Council support

Lenny Zhou, a Vancouver city councillor, spoke at Monday’s news conference – welcoming the launch of the registry, saying local governments have lacked the necessary tools to effectively crackdown on illegal rentals.

“For too long, we’ve struggled to address the challenges posed by non-compliant operators in the short-term rental market,” he said.

“While many hosts follow the rule, there are who do not, and this has made it difficult to ensure that housing remains available for those who want to call Vancouver home.”

With files from CTV News’ Vancouver reporter Martin MacMahon