Opposition calls for changes to B.C.'s proposed short-term rental legislation

Short-term rentals were front and centre at the B.C. legislature Tuesday, with the Official Opposition BC United pushing the province to modify its new proposed laws.

“Just make some common sense changes to the legislation,” said BC United housing critic Karin Kirkpatrick.

The changes pitched included an exemption for major events – like the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which will include games in Vancouver – when the Opposition says a hotel shortage will mean more Airbnb-type places are needed.

“There are going to be about 269,000 people coming to British Columbia for that event, and most of those people will be from outside of Canada, outside the U.S. We have about 23,000 hotel spaces in the Lower Mainland,” said Kirkpatrick.

The other amendments being proposed to last week's legislation are changing the definition of short-term to less than 30 days, rather than 90 days; allowing exemptions for medical visits at short-term rentals; and permitting hosts to operate a short-term rental outside their principal residence – a major focus of the NDP’s bill.

“The suggestion that we should allow more investor properties to be used as short-term rentals is going backwards,” said Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, Tuesday, when asked about the Opposition’s proposal.

"The whole goal of the Opposition is to drive holes through this legislation,” said Premier David Eby, when asked about the suggestion of lowering the term period for short-term rentals to less than 30 days.

BC United also took aim at Premier Eby’s own former property – a condo unit in a Victoria building that allowed short-term rentals because they had been grandfathered in under city zoning rules – and which Eby sold in 2019 with an ad the Opposition highlighted included the fact that it permitted “unrestricted rentals.”

“This is NDP housing hypocrisy: They do nothing, the premier personally profits, and now they are searching for scapegoats for their failures in housing,” said Kirkpatrick during Tuesday’s question period.

The premier was quick to respond – noting he never rented out the unit short-term, and taking issue with the characterization that he marketed it for resale that way.

“The family that bought the condo was to rent it out to a child that was going to school in Victoria,” explained Eby. “So it’s (a) manufactured scandal. It is nonsense.”

The government’s new short-term rental laws are expected to come into effect May 1. Whether they do undergo any tweaks before then will likely remain a heated debate.