The last decade or so was taken up by ineffectually dabbing at the problem and bringing in measures that didn’t accomplish much of anything
It took only a few years for online short-term rentals to go from a cool new app providing cheap accommodation to a perceived worldwide menace that is distorting the rental-housing market and locking people out of badly needed housing.But it started going bad years ago. In B.C. and elsewhere, the last decade or so was taken up by ineffectually dabbing at the problem and bringing in measures that didn’t accomplish much of anything.
Illegal vacation rentals annoy next-door condo dwellers and compound the rental crisis by taking units from the pool that permanent residents need, they said.The concept that tourists needed cheap places to stay and homeowners could rent out suites to help cover their own costs was countered by complaints about “ghost hotels,” noisy strangers next door, and tax unfairness.
Later that year, the government strengthened condo strata rules so buildings with limits on short-term rentals could hike the fines for contraventions from $200 to $1,000. It aims to curtail the practice in most communities around B.C. starting next spring and eradicate the option completely for absentee owners in most larger communities.
In one of the City of Victoria’s crackdowns, restrictions were imposed, but about 1,600 hosts were exempted and continued to operate as “legal non-conforming.”
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