Rental cabin/via Avalara.com
BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon is suggesting the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s decision to not opt-in to new short-term rental rules may only be temporary.
His suggestion comes after the CSRD announced its intention not to take part in the government’s new program, which is set to kick in on May 1st.
Under those rules, short term rentals across much of the province are going to be restricted to an owners principal residence, as well as a secondary suite.
All other properties owned by that person will have to be rented out for 6 months or longer, or the owner will face a vacant property tax.
However, Ravi Kahlon notes there are no requirement for regional districts, resort municipalities or communities with under 10,000 people to opt-in to the provincial program.
“The question isn’t that they’re opting-out, the question is and I guess what they’re saying is, they don’t want to be part of it right now. That’s fine,” Kahlon told NL Newsday on the heels of the CSRD’s decision. “The communities that either are smaller than a certain threshold, less than 10,000 population or communities that have higher vacancy rate than 3 percent or higher have the ability of not being a part of it and that is completely their choice.”
Still, Kahlon says he wouldn’t be surprised to see the CSRD board eventually reverse its decision.
“We are seeing communities like Tofino for example — like that’s a hot-bed of tourism in the province — and they didn’t have to be in but they just sent us a letter saying ‘no, no we want in, we want in badly’ because although they depend on the tourism, they have nowhere for their workforce to live,” argued Kahlon. “They have such a shortage of housing that they can’t attract the people to operate their tourism businesses.”
In making the decision, the CSRD board says the rules surrounding the impending changes aren’t clear enough.
“The provincial STR registry, we have no idea what the procedure for someone to get on the registry is going to be. How do they apply, what’s required… We’ve been hearing a lot of questions, as I’m sure some of the Area Directors are as well, with regards to the implementation of this legislation,” said Gerald Christie, General Manager, Development Services to the Board in a release from the CSRD.
“People are wanting answers to these kinds of questions, but to put it succinctly, we don’t have the information yet,” said Christie.
The move by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District it isn’t without precedent.
The Municipality of Bowen Island, just off the coast of West Vancouver, decided earlier this year not to make the same choice and maintain its own short-term rental rules.
The CSRD does say it intends to re-visit the issue in the fall.
In the meantime, it is encouraging property owners within the Regional District who want to be involved with short term rentals to reach out to the CSRD for more information.
“The CSRD is encouraging owners of short-term rentals to contact planning staff to review the zoning regulations and confirm if a short-term rental (STR) is permitted on the property,” said the Regional District in its news release. “If not, the CSRD can outline possible options for property owners.”
