The province has introduced legislation to limit short-term rental eligibility, and the new bill will affect hundreds of vacation rentals in the Comox Valley.

The key element to the bill is the introduction of the principal residence requirement effective May 1, 2024. It means homeowners cannot operate a short-term rental business unless it is their principal residence and/or one other unit on their property, be it a secondary suite, a laneway house or garden suite.

(The) principal residency requirement will only apply in communities with populations above 10,000, and communities below 10,000 less than 15 kilometres away from communities with the requirement.

The short-term rental site Vrbo shows 209 鈥榲acation rentals鈥� in Courtenay, 148 in Comox, and 134 in Cumberland.

While many of those would be cross-listed, Vrbo advertises that its rentals are full property rentals (as opposed to suites in homes), meaning nearly all Vrbo properties in the Comox Valley, including rural locations within 15 kilometres of Courtenay, would be affected by the new legislation.

The Record reached out to community leaders for their reaction to the legislation.

Mayor Wells cautiously optimistic

Courtenay Mayor Bob Wells said that while the prospect of having more long-term rentals available is exciting, he is taking a cautious approach to the announcement.

鈥淚鈥檓 trying to not get too far ahead of myself, and really wait for the data鈥� so that we can all be talking about the same thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen it comes to having another tool to work with (to combat the housing crisis) I think that is the thing that, as mayor, I am most excited about. Whether or not it gets utilized to its full potential (we will see), but it鈥檚 certainly a conversation that we want to make sure we are having with other mayors, the regional district鈥� So we are really looking forward to seeing how the legislation plays out.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think this is the magic bullet that fixes everything, but for that one person that gets that long-term rental, it鈥檚 going to mean the world.鈥�

Mayor Minions predicts minimal local effect

Comox Mayor Nicole Minions said while there are dozens of listings on Airbnb, the majority of those appear to be secondary suites on properties where the landowner resides.

鈥淎irbnb has approximately 60 Comox listings on their site currently,鈥� said Minions. 鈥淟ooking at the current listings a majority fall under being a suite in a home, a cottage on-site or a room in a house. Currently, there shows to be five to 10 homes that may be 鈥榚ntire home鈥� vacation rentals.

鈥淚 speak for myself on this, I see it is needed legislation but will have more of an impact for larger city centres like Victoria and Vancouver where full short-term rental buildings are being built in recent years.鈥�

Despite that, Minions said the concept is a good start in the efforts to address the housing crisis.

鈥淎lthough it is small piece of a much bigger puzzle on the housing affordability crisis, it is a step in the right direction,鈥� she said. 鈥淎s we can see from the numbers in Comox specific, this will not be of big impact in our local community but discourage homeowners in future from renting out their full home as a vacation rental in future. It is a growing type of investment and business model, it will likely have a minor but positive impact on the dire vacancy numbers locally.鈥�

She does not believe the new legislation will have a detrimental effect on the tourism economy in Comox.

鈥淥n the tourism front, we do have the bed and breakfast option (there are seven B&B licences operating in Comox)鈥� and currently one hotel, with the desire to have another hotel in town in the short to medium future,鈥� said Minions. 鈥淚 am not concerned how this affects tourism with a majority of the listings being a portion of home residences currently.鈥�

Mayor Brown says non-compliant properties will be affected

Cumberland already has bylaws in place regarding short-term rentals, so the transition there will not be overwhelming to most owners.

鈥淭he new rules align very nicely with our Short Term Rental Bylaw, which already has a primary resident (owner or long-term renter) condition,鈥� said Cumberland Mayor Vickey Brown. 鈥淥ur STRs are allowed in the R1A zone which allows three dwellings on each property. A vacation rental is permitted only in one dwelling unit on a property. This can be the main dwelling, or a secondary suite, or an accessory dwelling unit.鈥�

This was important to us because we were hearing from residents that they had no neighbours anymore because the homes were being rented out as STRs. It was important to us to not lose our connectivity as a community, having a permanent resident on site will help.

鈥淲e also require a business licence number on any online advertising, a sign on the building identifying it as an STR and a maximum number of guests.鈥�

Brown said there are still some non-compliant properties, and those are the ones that will be affected by the legislation.

At last count, the village had 143 homes being used commercially with nearly half of them (68) being rented out for 鈥渕ore than half the year. Only 24 of the homes are licenced.

鈥淲e do have many (number coming) STRs that are unlicensed because they are in zones where they are not allowed. The Village appreciates the province鈥檚 assistance with enforcement on these properties. We also have a few homes that are grandfathered in as full home STRs. We will have to look into how the new regulations will apply to them.鈥�

Within its bylaw, Cumberland allowed for a grandfather clause for existing vacation rentals, although the new legislation will consider all grandfather clauses null and void.