Short-Term Vacation Rental Listing Platforms

Whereas resolution 2018-A4 Short-Term Vacation Rental Listing Platforms Responsibility in Compliance asked the Province to negotiate a province-wide agreement with Airbnb and other regionally-active short-term rental platforms to assist local governments with compliance checks, whereby the short-term rental STR platforms agree to require their hosts to provide proof of a valid business license, where applicable, in order to advertise using their service, was endorsed by UBCM; And whereas the provincial response was to continue to closely monitor the issue of STRs and their impact on communities across BC; And whereas the local governments continue to recognize the impact of short-term rentals on the long-term rental market by reducing the amount of available long-term rentals for permanent residents and increasing the speculative value of traditional residential properties; And whereas the required staffing resources to pursue active and reactive enforcement of illegal short-term rentals is beyond the ability of smaller local governments to be able to effectively respond to; And whereas the tracking of illegal short-term rentals requires significant resources time and capital from small local governments as booking platforms are designed to withhold location details of rental properties: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM ask the Ministry of Housing to expedite the drafting and subsequent consideration of provincial legislation that would accomplish the following: - Require short-term rental booking platforms to verify that local government approvals have been obtained, and those that are advertising without appropriate approvals would be removed from the booking platform; - Require short-term rental booking platforms to list the civic address of the rental property to support with local municipal tracking and verification of compliance; and - Provide additional enforcement mechanisms for local governments with respect to noncompliant operators including, but not limited to, the issuance of municipal tickets that, should they not be challenged or paid, could be placed on property taxes.