This is – hopefully – the last time we write about North Van resident Emily Yu’s townhouse/former hostel. After a years-long legal dispute, the Central Lonsdale unit is now on the market by order of a B.C. Supreme Court judge.
It was a nightmare for the neighbours to live next to. Almost as bad was the time and expense it took the townhouse strata to get results through the courts.
Today, it stands as one of the more egregious cases of short-term rental owners flouting the rules. And sadly, the lesson the strata quickly learned was don’t expect any significant help from the City of North Vancouver.
In order for a municipality to enforce short-term rental bylaws, they must catch the host in the act, not just spot the listing on AirBnB. And even then, it’s likely to take a time-consuming investigation and thousands of dollars in legal bills to get fines that might only amount to hundreds of dollars.
All of this is because of the way the rules are written by the province.
Despite COVID-19, there are still dozens of listings on the North Shore for entire homes or suites being rented to those here for a good time, not a long time.
West Vancouver has its own problems with vacant mansions being rented out as party houses.
Right now, there are three political parties jockeying for power in an election that seems to be entirely about whether a few seats in the Lower Mainland, which is still very much in a rental crisis, can be flipped.
Promising changes to put housing for local workers ahead of housing for tourists would be a quick win with urban voters and it would help us all sleep a bit better.
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