Dear Tony: With the recent recommendations to remove rental bylaws for strata corporations, will this include short-term rentals as well?
Our strata corporation is 88 units. We permit 10 rentals in addition to family rentals, and while we have two owners requesting to rent their units on a waiting list, we do not have any vacancies in the building.
The two owners are investors who have purchased other units, are planning on moving and wish to use their units for short-term rentals. We just adopted a bylaw that prohibits short-term rentals, with a fine of $1,000 per day for violators.
Is it possible that those laws are going to change as well? We are also fielding inquiries about the vacancy tax and how this connects to rental bylaws.
Strata council of the Emerald
There are no plans or indications by government that it will limit or change a strata corporation’s ability to prohibit short-term rentals, as short-term rentals have been a significant cause of the loss of rental units in strata buildings.
If a building is well-located, owners can earn revenues several times greater if they use their strata lots for short-term rentals as opposed to long-term tenancies.
The recommendation by the provincial government task force to cancel the application of rental bylaws in strata housing does not apply to short-term rentals. A change to the current legislation would require an amendment to the Strata Property Act and Regulations.
An amendment would first have to be passed by the legislature, then cabinet would need to approve amendments to the regulations.
There have been many claims that strata properties with rental bylaws contribute to the housing shortage, but targeted research shows the lowest vacancy rates are actually in strata buildings with rental-restriction bylaws.
The Speculation and Vacancy Tax is designed to target empty homes. If you are an investor and your strata corporation has a bylaw that restricts rentals, you might be exempt from the tax.
However, if rental-bylaw provisions are repealed, the exemption would be removed, and any type of vacant strata lot would be subject to the tax for the regions that apply.
Once declaration letters go out, all residential property owners in the designated taxable regions must complete an annual declaration for the speculation and vacancy tax or automatically be declared taxable. The provincial speculation tax is distinct from the empty homes tax in the City of Vancouver.
If you are a strata council member, owner, manager or investor, your voice is important. Go to choa.bc.ca and complete a quick survey on strata rental bylaws.
For more information on the Speculation and Vacancy Tax, go to gov.bc.ca, B.C. Speculation and Vacancy Tax.
Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association
