'This is a very serious issue': Growing concerns over illegal Airbnb listings flooding the Vancouver market

City Councillor Lenny Zhou says he's working with staff to figure out just how many illegal short-term rental units are operating in Vancouver.

"Some people are actually not using their principal residence, (they're) using their investment unit as a short-term rental. That's not right," Zhou told CTV News. "This is a very serious issue. For one, our city is experiencing a housing crisis and some people are taking advantage of the system and trying to make some money using some illegal short-term rental." 

Under City of Vancouver regulations, you need a valid business licence to operate a short-term rental, and it’s illegal to operate a short-term rental that isn’t your principal residence.

According to city staff, there are 4,084 active listings for short-term rentals in Vancouver. So far in 2023, 132 licenses have been suspended, 120 violation tickets were issued and 54 units were flagged for investigations and audits.

The current fine is $1,000 per violation, the maximum allowed under provincial law. Zhou believes that needs to change.

"This is too low," said Zhou. "For short-term rentals you could probably make up the money in 2-3 days."

Zhou couldn't provide an estimate of how many illegal units are operating, but says his research has returned some eye-opening figures.

“There was one strata building – so they have 233 units, but what they told me is they have 30 illegal short-term rentals in one building. That’s more than 10 per cent,” said Zhou, adding they're still verifying those numbers.

One housing expert tells CTV News the ripple effect could be a factor in rising long-term rental costs.

"The concern of course is that they're units that are essentially full-time on the Airbnb market, and then you have the higher rents and the lack of unit availability, so it's a real double whammy," said Tsur Somerville, a UBC Professor who specializes in housing and economics.

Zhou believes some of the offenders may be unaware they are breaking the rules and compliance is the first step.

In an emailed statement to CTV News, B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the Province is "actively developing legislation to address concerns around short-term rentals that will be introduced in fall 2023."

While Zhou is hopeful for change, he says online platforms like Airbnb are key for any solution moving forward.

"I think the most efficient way is to allow the platform to take out all the illegal listings, but as a municipality, we cannot do that enforcement,” he said.

"We're in a world where essentially, whether it's Airbnb or Uber or Google or YouTube, where it's like 'we're not responsible for what's on there, we're just creating the platform,’" said Somerville. "That feels very disingenuous because we wouldn't have these issues if we didn't have these platforms."

Airbnb sent the following statement to CTV News:

“Since 2018, Airbnb has worked actively with the City of Vancouver, sharing data with municipal leaders to help ensure every listing includes a valid licence," reads the statement on behalf of Nathan Rotman, policy lead for Canada Airbnb.

"We will continue to work with the City to promote compliance while also protecting the ability for hosts to share their homes, and the economic impact doing so brings to communities across Vancouver.”

The City of Vancouver has eight full-time employees working to address and enforce short-term rental regulations.