The B.C. Real Estate Association is calling for on the B.C. government to review its crackdown on short-term rentals.

The realtors’ group said it wants to see “significant amendments” to the new STR rules. In May, the province enacted legislation that increased violators’ fines to $3,000 from $1,000 per infraction per day as part of an effort to offset a shortage of rental housing and reduce disruptions to the hotel sector.

The government contends that STRs reduce rental housing availability and affordability because their owners can achieve better financial returns.  

But Trevor Hargreaves, the BCREA’s vice-president of policy and research, said the rules have had a negative effect on many groups.

“While housing affordability is extremely important, there are additional considerations in communities across B.C. that have been paved over with the implementation of this policy,” he said in a news release.

“There are numerous exemptions desperately needed to make this a workable and successful policy moving forward.” 

The BCREA is seeking exemptions for several groups. They include medical employees transferred to remote areas; out-patients receiving multi-week medical care and caregivers in urban areas; film-sector workers in town for weeks at a time; and, employees working at short-term but large events, such as a Taylor Swift concert or soccer’s FIFA World Cup 2026 in Vancouver.

Hoteliers and tourism groups are hustling to prevent a severe accommodation shortage during the World Cup. The BCREA contends that the new rules have caused major disruptions to specific sectors and tourism groups across the province.

“There is no question that some of these short-term rental units should be functioning as long-term rentals, but there are some legitimate uses for short-term rentals that are no longer permitted under the legislation,” said Hargreaves.

Communities must be factored into policy decisions of such magnitude, he added.

Hargreaves’ comments come as Premier David Eby’s governing B.C. New Democratic Party is campaigning for re-election against the Conservative Party of B.C.

Airbnb and the Conference Board of Canada maintain that STRs have not raised long-term rents and are not having a large impact on multi-residential housing supply.

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