Like many jurisdictions across the province, the City of North Vancouver is looking to rein in the Wild West of unlicensed short-term rentals.
At a meeting April 22, council voted unanimously to adopt a plan to phase in the regulation and enforcement of short-term rentals, bringing the municipality in step with new provincial legislation.
In general, council agreed with staff’s approach to balance objectives of freeing up more properties for long-term renters while keeping some short-term properties available for tourists and other visitors. There was also consensus that introducing regulation would be a learning process, and likely require adjustments down the road.
Going forward, the city’s road map is to begin by rolling out a public information campaign, followed by issuing licences to short-term rental operators this summer and fall. During the fall, staff will collect data and carry out enforcement of non-compliant operators, and then report back to council in the winter.
Despite the current lack of regulations, staff said they are aware of around 500 short-term rentals that have been operating over the past five years or so. Those include entire dwelling units, as well as rooms within units. These short-term rentals make up around two per cent of the total private homes in the city, or roughly four per cent of rental units, staff said.
With the goal of making more homes available to residents, new rules from the provincial government come into effect on May 1. Those restrictions include only being able to offer short-term rentals in a host's principal residence, plus one additional unit on the property.
Hosts will have to display a valid business licence on their listing, when required by local government, as will be the case in the City of North Van. To aid enforcement, the province is requiring platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo and FlipKey to share data on their hosts. That data will be shared with municipalities, who can request platforms to remove unlicensed listings.
To protect unknowing users, only short-term rental hosts will be fined for non-compliance. Enforcement can happen at both the municipal and provincial level. A new provincial enforcement unit will be able to issue administrative penalties ranging from $500 to $5,000 per day, per infraction, but can go as high as $10,000 a day for corporations.
In the city, the maximum fine can be set from $1,000 to $3,000 per day, per infraction. But the maximum bylaw notice remains capped at $500, which is the more common enforcement tool, staff explained.
Taxes collected from short-term rentals will support affordable housing and tourism
Policy direction from the official community plan stresses a balance, which in the case of short-term rentals means ensuring the availability of affordable housing while supporting economic growth and tourism, said Siobian Smith, City of North Vancouver manager of economic development.
“We know that there’s a significant shortage of housing in the city and throughout the region,” she said. “We are also aware of a lack of short-term accommodations to support tourism, and other short term stays that may support medical visits or temporary workforce.”
Smith acknowledged concerns about residents impacted by noise or nuisance related to short-term rentals, as well as owners and long-term tenants who may rely on income from short-term rentals. She also said that staff don’t have reliable data to inform what the impacts of regulation will be.
Therefore, Smith said staff should align rules with provincial requirements, while taking a pilot approach to rules at the municipal level, gathering data to inform future modifications.
Coun. Tony Valente asked staff to clarify how taxes collected from short-term rentals would be dispersed into the municipality.
“The funds are restricted to use for tourism and affordable housing initiatives only,” Smith said. Based on the number of nights booked on a platform, a tax is applied, which in the city’s case will go to its affordable housing reserve as well as the North Shore Tourism Association.
Coun. Don Bell noted that more restrictive regimes exist in jurisdictions that have been regulating short-term rentals for years already. That includes a 90-day per year rental restriction in Burnaby, and a principal dwelling restriction on each unit in Vancouver, Smith said.
“So we would be looking at those going forward as to potential restrictions ... to make it more effective,” Bell said.
Smith said that any future modifications to the city’s rules would be decided by council.
Given that the provincial scheme is new, there will loopholes taken advantage of, and adjustments will be made, said Mayor Linda Buchanan.
“The majority of people who want to do short-term rental in our community are doing so as very good people and are following rules,” she said. “There’s probably a few bad actors, but they’re the minority.”
