“Zero effect”: Airbnb expert says the BC crackdown isn't the fix for crisis

“Zero effect”: Airbnb expert says the BC crackdown isn't the fix for housing crisis

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New short-term rental rules are now in effect in BC, but an Airbnb expert doubts they will significantly address the province’s housing crisis.

The BC government introduced the highly touted short-term regulations on May 1, promising to return thousands of homes to the long-term rental market.

However, Estate Hosts, a company specializing in property management, says these regulations have “zero effect” on its business.

“The issue has nothing to do with us,” Estate Hosts founder Nafeez Khan told Daily Hive.

Khan is the CEO of EstateHosts.com, a property management company that only works with licensed Airbnb homeowners and follows pre-existing rules so the new short-term rental regulations don’t impact its business. Estate Hosts operates in Canada, parts of the United States, and Mexico and started as an Airbnb consulting and coaching program.

Long story short, it helps people get properties on Airbnb legally and in “the right way.”

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Khan told Daily Hive that while the BC government is making it seem like this is a major shakeup, but it’s not for spots like Vancouver, where it was already illegal to operate without a licence or in a home that is not the principal residence.

“The law passed on [May 1] is not new. Actually, it was started before I even started in the industry,” Khan said, referencing the licensing departments in cities like Vancouver and many others.

Meanwhile, the BC Ministry of Housing believes that the regulations are already having an impact on the Airbnb market.

“It was a wild, wild west…”

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But while it was illegal, Khan could not tell if there was enforcement, and though he says he was playing by the rules, that wasn’t the case for at least one of the company’s competitors.

Prior to May 1, Airbnb owners were allowed to do whatever they wanted, according to Khan.

“It was a wild, wild west,” he said. “The City had to play cops and robbers to find out who was breaking the rules. The only difference today is Airbnb won’t list your property unless you have a licence.”

Chart of the City of Vancouver short term rental listings (blue line) vs. licenses (red line)

While hosts could have multiple listings, the gap between listings vs. licenses should be a flag to @CityofVancouver

Similar license levels to 2021, but almost double the listings pic.twitter.com/46kfOejcfF

— Mortimer (@mortimer_1) March 9, 2024

Impact on Airbnb businesses in BC

Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

However, while Khan says it hasn’t hurt his bottom line, other businesses have been impacted, like Artin Properties.

Artin came under fire when social media realized that the man behind the company had over 150 listings on Airbnb under his name. Artin ended up laying off several people ahead of the May 1 crackdown.

Reflecting on the regulations, Artin CEO Jordan Deyrmenjian said in a previous interview, “The announcement caused us to lose a lot of clients, which affected our revenue and what we’re able to spend on our personnel.”

Will more listings return to the long-term market?

Mila Supinskaya Glashchenko/Shutterstock

Despite the rules coming into effect on May 1, it sounds like everything is still a major work in progress. Daily Hive obtained a statement from the BC Ministry of Housing in response to our question about how they plan to enforce the rules.

“The Province is developing a process to track the housing supply impacts of the new STR rules and expects results by September 2024, once data from the peak summer season is available,” the ministry told Daily Hive.

What about listings returning to the market this May? We asked realtor Jeff Appelbe about that.

“I don’t think we’re really seeing a monumental shift, but I think that people are starting to listen,” he said.

“A lot of these Airbnbs are operating full time despite City of Vancouver regulations over the last four or five years,” Appelbe said, echoing Khan’s sentiments.

“I think many will wait to see how the provincial government handles them. It might result in a lot more listings on the market.”

As of Monday, more than 1,000 entire homes were available to rent in September, and many of them did not have license numbers. It’s on short-term sites to remove illegal listings or face a $10,000 fine. Hosts who are found to be non-compliant could be hit with $5,000-per-day fines.

The BC government says it is still studying the data. However, it did add that there have been some signs of hope.

“While this is still in early stages, there are several buildings that were previously renting STRs under legal non-conforming use in Victoria and Kelowna, but will no longer be, come May 1. Within these 55 buildings, 165 units have been listed for resale, and 15 units have sold, since the introduction of STR legislation on October 17, 2023,” the ministry added.

According to Khan, the issue remains not short-term rentals but supply. He said what we’ve been hearing for years; we need more housing, and homes are simply not being built fast enough to meet demand due to building.

“The rental market is still showing lots of inventory every day in major markets for renters, and licensing and monitoring with Airbnb’s help for each city is a great solution for those who want to do Airbnb the right way.”

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