The City of Vancouver says it has cracked down on nearly 1,000 unauthorized short-term rental units and suspended the licences of three operators since April.
As of Nov. 30, the city says in the wake of its short-term rental regulations, 963 units are no longer being advertised on sites such as Airbnb, Expedia and Booking.com.
The city has opened more than 1,600 case files that have resulted in:
- 363 investigations and audits
- 304 warning letters
- 132 legal orders issued
- 126 tickets
- 59 units identified for inspect
- And three licences suspended
Twelve case files were also referred to prosecutors, with five cases – that represent 17 listings – proceeding to court.
When questioned about how city staff are monitoring whether short-term units have truly been taken off the market, the city's chief licence inspector says they're keeping an eye on multiple sites.
"We've been monitoring for that exact activity, anticipating that some operators may change platforms so we're monitoring all platforms that are active in Vancouver," said Katheryn Holm.
Holm says the city is anecdotally seeing that some short-term rentals are being converted to long-term rentals.
The city says there are 4,589 active short-term rental listings in Vancouver with 3,161 licences issued.
Disobeying the city’s licensing rules is subject to a $1,000 ticket per offence.
