David Eby sold his condo just before the new regulation. The new regulation is based on a study which is funded by BC Hotels Association. Hard to guess who benefits from this new rule? HOTELS
Hotel owners are the winners - everyone else is losing...tourists who can not afford expensive hotels, middle class who could make a little income from STR, small retail and tourist business in downtown... it's a short sighted decision
It’s about time. I know of a couple of people that have multiple condos that are STR. Theses unit will come back on the market for rental or for sale. That means that the market will crash.
Downtown tourism will suffer. We could see more Airbnbs in Fairfield/James Bay and the outskirts of downtown and less basement suites for LTR in those areas.
Good video, but there's zero doubt that the previously transient zoned buildings are being phased out. That change was specifically targeted at Victoria See slide 13 in the technical briefing that says "Currently, 'legal non-conforming use principle' allows hosts to operate despite local bylaws in place (under a land use bylaw). This is because short-term rentals were allowed in a building or structure prior to the bylaw being put in place. For example, in Victoria, according to the City, there are approx. 1,600 units the City cannot regulate due to this “legacy” law whereby short-term rentals were zoned as an allowable prior to their STR bylaw being put in place. We will remove STRs from legal non-confirming use so that all operators will need to follow local government rules."
don't you think if you encourage all business around housing that will stimulate all types of housing? The supply and demand for specific types of homes creates a balance. Now the policy keeps it out of balance.
That’s is exactly what our market needs. Deflating ridiculous values that were propped up by speculation to make them affordable for people who just want to live there rather than running a grey market hotel operation.@@DummMoney-rr1fi
Easing rental prices 'a bit' will help a lot. Good point about the other causes of high prices: high immigration and high construction costs. High cost of construction is a more complex issue to deal with - record-breaking immigration numbers we could deal with at the stroke of a pen.
I'm confused with the 90 day minimum to not be considered an STR. I can currently rent to a tenant on a month to month and the tenant can voluntarily end the tenancy with one months notice. So they could issue notice anytime from day 1-29 and it would officially and legally end at the end of month 2. Which is a direct breach of 90 day rule. Is this a work around for STR owners wanting to rent as a MTR? Another twist could be sign a month to month agreement then let the tenant request to sign a mutual agreement to end tenancy agreement to leave. Seems like both these scenarios are legal under current RTO rules in BC. Thoughts?
Super confusing indeed. I don't know why they went with 90 days and not 30 days to be more consistent with existing bylaws and rules in place. I guess the hotels want to also dominate the mid term (1-3 month) rental space as well.
So either comply and be short term rental. Or follow RTB rules and play in a grey area of 30 day plus MTR space. Can you be fined under the new act if you rent a furnished LTR for 60 days? Or the tenant requests a mutual agreement to end tenancy? I see a bunch of work arounds here.
Great perspective Ira. Victoria has the best weather in Canada, cruize ships abound. I would call that a tourism destination / RESORT area. Owners will sue municpal govts, who will sue provincial govt. Yes, the lawyers win again.
Wow, a lot to unpack here. You failed to mention that if cities see rental availability rise above 3% that they can apply for an exemption on primary housing, which would permit lawful STR operation. This is a pretty significant issue, as it is fundamentally sensible: when there's no affordability crisis and housing scarcity, STR should be allowed. This is one of the terms of the announcement today. Also AirBnB hasn't been a scapegoat for years - it became a scapegoat in 2022 once LTR listings dipped so low that STR listings were larger. Prior to STR people put their attention on housing issues including: money laundering, speculative housing ownership, vacant properties, foreign ownership, dedicated rental supply, and so much more. But it's an affordability crisis and supply is one part of the answer, so it's time for AirBnB to shape up. As you say, 1200 listings but only 700 licensed operators - sounds like way too many illegal listings in Victoria, and everywhere else in Canada. Bottom line: it's in everyone's interest to see a return of housing affordability, and rental availability - work on that and then we can directly compete with hotels again. Also, btw, the housing crisis existed long before the bogus claim of 1m people coming to Canada per year, not sure how someone in BC could assume it's because of immigration. Look up home price increases between 2014 and 2017 in the province, to see when housing prices were going up at eye-watering levels during Harper's years (250k immigration target at that time).
Thanks for the comments, some good points for sure. I very much doubt the 3% vacancy exemption will ever be used. How would it possibly be practical to enact and what would happen if vacancy dipped below 3% the following year? Airbnbs banned again? It really makes no sense. One thing I failed to mention in the video is that this does not apply to basement suites and accessory buildings. You can bet those 700 STR units off the market will mean 700 basement suites will look more promising to for the owners to Airbnb once the tenants leave as well.
You do understand that the municipalities in many areas have or will be banning short term accommodations and the province will be providing resource to inforce the rules and fines have been increased so basements suites are illegal as well as any other short term rentals, game over. @@IraWilley
and do you think any new basement suites will ever be used for anything else? possibly but my experience with LTR in my home was a game of Russian roulette and when you lost it was a death blow to my desire to ever rent it out again. STR's are great, because even with a horrible tenant there is a quick and easy end in sight. I will always rent out on a STR/MTR furnished basis now. BTW, I've evolved from 7 doors LTR exclusively to 6 doors STR/MTR and only one LTR left and once that goes it will become a MTR. I currently make approximately 2x long term rent rates here in the interior of BC. Looking forward to evolving with this new STR Act.@@IraWilley
@@IraWilley You're welcome to doubt the 3% exemption will be used - the fact that it's in the policy means you should just get on and call your MLA and MP and support the effort to make housing affordable and increase the supply of rental units. You want to consume housing and use it to undercut the hotels right, steal their business? Sure... if the price is right. Now you are incentivized to be reasonable and not try to consume housing during an affordability crisis. Now you should welcome affordable housing like the rest of us, because it is directly in your financial interests. 700 basement suites - don't really understand what you mean here. Are people going to sell their 250 square foot Janion units and buy a 2400 square foot home with or without a secondary suite or accessory building just to make STR easier for them? Can they even afford that kind of property in Victoria at current pricing? Again, if housing was affordable, affording primary residences with secondary suites would be much easier, so once again we arrive at: just make housing affordable and then you can abuse it to make money.
to many variables. that is correct, the basement suites will become STR's until they tax them to death then they will become unused empty basements again @@gfair2
Hey @IraWilley is it possible to do rental arbitrage with someone’s basement suite? Like I list it with their permission on signed documents/leases, pay their asking price for rent and collect everything overtop? (owner obviously lives on the property)
If these new rules go in effect, no. As it stands it would be hard to find a landlord that would allow that... why wouldn't they rent it out themselves?
They may not want the hassle of cleaning, managing etc. I can see this for a 10-25% fee depending on how involved. Also, I can see a big value in having a pipeline of renters and placing pre vetted renters into suites for a fee@@IraWilley
I'm the ' BC government ' and I'm going to cut off my nose ( tax income from STRs and income tax , not to mention all the other monies spent in BC due to our tourism industry ) to spite how my face looks . It won't help and it will cause them to lose ALOT of votes and let the liberals back into power which will further decline our once beautiful province .
this is sad. our cleaning lady has a staff of 5 that SOLEY depend on this income. obviously really terrible for us too. we only have one, and it's so hard to get ahead in Canada now. curious about the transient zoning... i was under the impression that this nulled it. how do we find out for sure?
Agreed. STR is a vital part of our local economy. The transient ban is still unclear and nothing is for sure yet but you can bet there will be some opposition to it.
It's too bad you "depend" on str income. The message and rules are clear now, invest in something other than housing. There are many other investments. Be thankful that the airbnb market with Inflatated pricing allowed you to acquire more property. If you can't afford to keep it and rent it out long term, sell it. No sympathy here,crying that you depend on the income is greed at the expense of everyone experiencing a housing crisis.
@@ryanbrubacher2673 i don't depend on it. i said my cleaning staff do. so do all the tours and other small businesses on the dock out front. i will continue investing in housing, among other things. this hurts Victorias tourism industry... the second biggest creator of jobs in our city. those are the facts.
David Eby sold his condo just before the new regulation. The new regulation is based on a study which is funded by BC Hotels Association. Hard to guess who benefits from this new rule? HOTELS
Hotel owners are the winners - everyone else is losing...tourists who can not afford expensive hotels, middle class who could make a little income from STR, small retail and tourist business in downtown... it's a short sighted decision
It’s about time. I know of a couple of people that have multiple condos that are STR. Theses unit will come back on the market for rental or for sale. That means that the market will crash.
thank goodness
I'm sure this will have an effect on tourism for the area.
Hmmm....Guess I can make money renting out my RV in the local Walmart parking lot?
Downtown tourism will suffer. We could see more Airbnbs in Fairfield/James Bay and the outskirts of downtown and less basement suites for LTR in those areas.
Good video, but there's zero doubt that the previously transient zoned buildings are being phased out. That change was specifically targeted at Victoria
See slide 13 in the technical briefing that says "Currently, 'legal non-conforming use principle' allows hosts to operate despite local bylaws in place (under a land use bylaw). This is because short-term rentals were allowed in a building or structure prior to the bylaw being put in place. For example, in Victoria, according to the City, there are approx. 1,600 units the City cannot regulate due to this “legacy” law whereby short-term rentals were zoned as an allowable prior to their STR bylaw being put in place. We will remove STRs from legal non-confirming use so that all operators will need to follow local government rules."
Hi Leo, Thanks for pointing that out, I did not see slide 13. Do you expect mass sales in these buildings over the next few months?
I really hope Airbnb is banned nationwide, They're places to live, not investments. Want to invest? Buy stocks or gold or something like that.
don't you think if you encourage all business around housing that will stimulate all types of housing? The supply and demand for specific types of homes creates a balance. Now the policy keeps it out of balance.
not I don't AirBnb is toxic to neighbourhoods, enough of this crap! @@DummMoney-rr1fi
That’s is exactly what our market needs. Deflating ridiculous values that were propped up by speculation to make them affordable for people who just want to live there rather than running a grey market hotel operation.@@DummMoney-rr1fi
supply and demand is fake. people pay what the market can handle. these greedy people have a line for everything
Easing rental prices 'a bit' will help a lot. Good point about the other causes of high prices: high immigration and high construction costs. High cost of construction is a more complex issue to deal with - record-breaking immigration numbers we could deal with at the stroke of a pen.
I'm confused with the 90 day minimum to not be considered an STR. I can currently rent to a tenant on a month to month and the tenant can voluntarily end the tenancy with one months notice. So they could issue notice anytime from day 1-29 and it would officially and legally end at the end of month 2. Which is a direct breach of 90 day rule. Is this a work around for STR owners wanting to rent as a MTR? Another twist could be sign a month to month agreement then let the tenant request to sign a mutual agreement to end tenancy agreement to leave. Seems like both these scenarios are legal under current RTO rules in BC. Thoughts?
Super confusing indeed. I don't know why they went with 90 days and not 30 days to be more consistent with existing bylaws and rules in place. I guess the hotels want to also dominate the mid term (1-3 month) rental space as well.
So either comply and be short term rental. Or follow RTB rules and play in a grey area of 30 day plus MTR space. Can you be fined under the new act if you rent a furnished LTR for 60 days? Or the tenant requests a mutual agreement to end tenancy? I see a bunch of work arounds here.
sounds like a jerk doesn't care about the disgusting state of downtown.
Great perspective Ira. Victoria has the best weather in Canada, cruize ships abound. I would call that a tourism destination / RESORT area. Owners will sue municpal govts, who will sue provincial govt. Yes, the lawyers win again.
Absolutely. Lawsuits will come and lawyers will win. Taxpayers (who pay for the province's lawyers will lose)
I also see that Mr Eby doesn't want to encroach on the self governing of the native band land. Hmmm may make those properties more valuable
Wow, a lot to unpack here. You failed to mention that if cities see rental availability rise above 3% that they can apply for an exemption on primary housing, which would permit lawful STR operation. This is a pretty significant issue, as it is fundamentally sensible: when there's no affordability crisis and housing scarcity, STR should be allowed. This is one of the terms of the announcement today. Also AirBnB hasn't been a scapegoat for years - it became a scapegoat in 2022 once LTR listings dipped so low that STR listings were larger. Prior to STR people put their attention on housing issues including: money laundering, speculative housing ownership, vacant properties, foreign ownership, dedicated rental supply, and so much more. But it's an affordability crisis and supply is one part of the answer, so it's time for AirBnB to shape up. As you say, 1200 listings but only 700 licensed operators - sounds like way too many illegal listings in Victoria, and everywhere else in Canada. Bottom line: it's in everyone's interest to see a return of housing affordability, and rental availability - work on that and then we can directly compete with hotels again. Also, btw, the housing crisis existed long before the bogus claim of 1m people coming to Canada per year, not sure how someone in BC could assume it's because of immigration. Look up home price increases between 2014 and 2017 in the province, to see when housing prices were going up at eye-watering levels during Harper's years (250k immigration target at that time).
Thanks for the comments, some good points for sure. I very much doubt the 3% vacancy exemption will ever be used. How would it possibly be practical to enact and what would happen if vacancy dipped below 3% the following year? Airbnbs banned again? It really makes no sense. One thing I failed to mention in the video is that this does not apply to basement suites and accessory buildings. You can bet those 700 STR units off the market will mean 700 basement suites will look more promising to for the owners to Airbnb once the tenants leave as well.
You do understand that the municipalities in many areas have or will be banning short term accommodations and the province will be providing resource to inforce the rules and fines have been increased so basements suites are illegal as well as any other short term rentals, game over. @@IraWilley
and do you think any new basement suites will ever be used for anything else? possibly but my experience with LTR in my home was a game of Russian roulette and when you lost it was a death blow to my desire to ever rent it out again. STR's are great, because even with a horrible tenant there is a quick and easy end in sight. I will always rent out on a STR/MTR furnished basis now. BTW, I've evolved from 7 doors LTR exclusively to 6 doors STR/MTR and only one LTR left and once that goes it will become a MTR. I currently make approximately 2x long term rent rates here in the interior of BC. Looking forward to evolving with this new STR Act.@@IraWilley
@@IraWilley You're welcome to doubt the 3% exemption will be used - the fact that it's in the policy means you should just get on and call your MLA and MP and support the effort to make housing affordable and increase the supply of rental units. You want to consume housing and use it to undercut the hotels right, steal their business? Sure... if the price is right. Now you are incentivized to be reasonable and not try to consume housing during an affordability crisis. Now you should welcome affordable housing like the rest of us, because it is directly in your financial interests. 700 basement suites - don't really understand what you mean here. Are people going to sell their 250 square foot Janion units and buy a 2400 square foot home with or without a secondary suite or accessory building just to make STR easier for them? Can they even afford that kind of property in Victoria at current pricing? Again, if housing was affordable, affording primary residences with secondary suites would be much easier, so once again we arrive at: just make housing affordable and then you can abuse it to make money.
to many variables. that is correct, the basement suites will become STR's until they tax them to death then they will become unused empty basements again @@gfair2
Hey @IraWilley is it possible to do rental arbitrage with someone’s basement suite? Like I list it with their permission on signed documents/leases, pay their asking price for rent and collect everything overtop? (owner obviously lives on the property)
If these new rules go in effect, no. As it stands it would be hard to find a landlord that would allow that... why wouldn't they rent it out themselves?
They may not want the hassle of cleaning, managing etc. I can see this for a 10-25% fee depending on how involved. Also, I can see a big value in having a pipeline of renters and placing pre vetted renters into suites for a fee@@IraWilley
Yaaa
I'm the ' BC government ' and I'm going to cut off my nose ( tax income from STRs and income tax , not to mention all the other monies spent in BC due to our tourism industry ) to spite how my face looks . It won't help and it will cause them to lose ALOT of votes and let the liberals back into power which will further decline our once beautiful province .
this is sad. our cleaning lady has a staff of 5 that SOLEY depend on this income. obviously really terrible for us too. we only have one, and it's so hard to get ahead in Canada now. curious about the transient zoning... i was under the impression that this nulled it. how do we find out for sure?
Agreed. STR is a vital part of our local economy. The transient ban is still unclear and nothing is for sure yet but you can bet there will be some opposition to it.
@@IraWilley i would like to hear what the city has to say about these changes.
@@roseoverdose6451the city has stated already that they are very much in favor of these changes.
It's too bad you "depend" on str income. The message and rules are clear now, invest in something other than housing. There are many other investments. Be thankful that the airbnb market with Inflatated pricing allowed you to acquire more property. If you can't afford to keep it and rent it out long term, sell it. No sympathy here,crying that you depend on the income is greed at the expense of everyone experiencing a housing crisis.
@@ryanbrubacher2673 i don't depend on it. i said my cleaning staff do. so do all the tours and other small businesses on the dock out front. i will continue investing in housing, among other things. this hurts Victorias tourism industry... the second biggest creator of jobs in our city. those are the facts.