B.C. Supreme Court denies short-term rental rule exemption
A property management company, an Airbnb owner and a property rights advocacy group went to the B.C. Supreme Court to ask that certain short-term rentals be allowed to continue operating despite the province’s tightened rules controlling the sector.
The petitioners wanted clarity from the court on whether B.C.’s short-term rental rules that took effect in May 2024 include short-term rentals that were already legally operating at the time. They sought permission for certain short-term rental businesses to be grandfathered in and continue operating.
“Does this new legislation cancel pre-existing business operations?” Orion Rodgers with Property Rights BC asked. “Can people buy a business or start a business and all of a sudden have that business taken away through legislation?”
The petition to the B.C. Supreme Court focused on The Oriental building in downtown Victoria. Angela Mason owns a unit in the building she sometimes lists as a short-term rental and also co-owns Amala Vacation Rental Solutions Ltd., which managed 90 short-term rentals before B.C.’s current short-term rental regulations took effect last year. Property Rights B.C., the advocacy group Rodgers is part of, joined them as a petitioner in the court proceedings.
Court doesn’t allow prior Airbnbs to be grandfathered in
The B.C. Supreme Court judge did not side with the short-term rental advocates. It upheld B.C.’s rules, stating Airbnb and other short-term rental hosts must only list their primary residence on the platform.
Last spring, B.C. tightened rules on short-term rentals in an attempt to get hosts to either convert their units to long-term rentals or sell. The government said at the time it estimated about 16,000 full-home units had been pulled from the province’s housing supply and turned into hotel-like businesses.
Now, people in B.C. can only list their primary residence on hosting platforms. Only a select few resort communities, such as Whistler, are exempt. The change made it harder for landlords to hold onto a portfolio of investment properties and rent them out to vacationers.
Amala and Property Rights B.C. argued the legislation wrongfully eliminated ongoing legal use of their rental properties and extinguished their right to continue their lawful business activities. They said the changes would amount to lost revenue and job losses.
Not only did they argue the short-term rental regulations would devalue their property, the court decision noted the owners felt that the new laws amounted to expropriation — and they believed they were entitled to compensation.
“Ultimately, I think people should be allowed to do what they want with their property,” Rodgers said.
The judge, however, did not agree. The court chose to maintain the existing short-term rental regulations. The judge said the petitioners had no exercise of statutory power, and there was no foundation to obtain declaratory or discretionary relief.
“With no proper Constitutional challenge, there is no ground on which to review or challenge the provisions of the STRAA,” the judge wrote.
Rodgers said his group was disheartened by the court’s decision and is considering an appeal as one of its next steps.
“We’re disappointed in the judge’s decision and that the actual argument wasn’t addressed,” he said. “We still believe the legislation as a whole is unfair and needs to be nuanced and amended.”
Property Rights B.C., which advocates for short-term rental hosts in the province, hopes the government consults it in addition to hotel groups as an industry player in future iterations of short-term rental legislation.
In January 2025, B.C.’s Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon reported that 10 per cent of former Airbnbs were back on the long-term housing market thanks to the crackdown in May.
“It’s welcome news when we increase housing supply and address speculation,” Kahlon said in a Jan. 20 news conference.