BC Government News Release: Province Provides Clarity for Short-Term Rentals Operating in Strata Hotels, Motels

Details from the BC Government news release:

The Province is taking action to make sure new short-term rental rules will continue to provide more long-term homes for people, while helping ensure certain existing strata hotels and motels will be able to continue providing overnight accommodation.

Upcoming regulations are intended to provide criteria for exemptions for strata hotels and motels from the Province’s principal-residence requirement for short-term rentals, which is set to go into effect in many B.C. communities on May 1, 2024.

When the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act was introduced in fall 2023, the Province exempted strata hotels and motels. Details are now being provided about the exemption to give greater certainty ahead of spring and summer tourist seasons.

The new regulations, which are anticipated in April 2024 (subject to government approvals), are expected to include an exemption from the principal-residence requirement for certain strata-titled hotels and motels, so they can continue to operate. Strata hotels and motels are facilities made up of individually owned strata lots, where accommodation is provided in a manner similar to a hotel or motel. Units in strata hotels and motels are often managed and rented out by the strata hotel or motel, not the individual.

It is expected that an existing strata hotel or motel will be exempt from the principal-residence requirement if one of the following two options applies.

1. Before Dec. 8, 2023, accommodation was being provided in a manner similar to a hotel or motel and on Dec. 8, 2023, the strata hotel or motel had and continues to have all of the following, which are provided in a manner similar to a hotel or motel:

• a staffed front desk on site;
• one or more employees or contractors that provide housekeeping services for overnight accommodations; and
• a platform providing platform services available exclusively for the use of owners offering short-term rentals at the property.

2. Before Dec. 8, 2023, accommodation was being provided in a manner similar to a hotel or motel, and more than one strata lot on the property is not able to be used as a principal residence by anyone due to a restriction under:

• zoning;
• a rental management agreement between the manager and an owner of a strata lot; or
• a restrictive covenant or a covenant under section 219 of the Land Title Act.

The exemption for strata hotels and motels is expected to apply to all units on the property, so there is consistent treatment of all of the units for the entire property. Other properties, such as existing residential buildings that do not meet the above requirements, will not meet this exemption from the Province’s principal-residence requirement.

For newly constructed strata hotels and motels, which were first capable of being occupied on or after Dec. 8, 2023, to be exempt from the principal-residence requirement, it is expected that they must have all three services listed above in Option 1, in addition to one of the legal-use restrictions described in Option 2.

Action to turn more short-term rentals into long-term homes is part of the Province’s Homes for People action plan. Announced in spring 2023, the plan builds on historic action to deliver housing since 2017 and sets out further actions to deliver the homes people need faster, while creating more vibrant communities throughout B.C.

Read the full news release, here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2024HOUS0045-000437

Ministry of Housing
Media Relations
236 478-0251

Learn More:

For more information about B.C. legislation, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/Legislation