It’s getting confusing, all the new housing taxes popping up here and there. Hope to help you keep it straight, especially since some cases will fall under multiple taxes and regulatory regimes.
(Just imagine a foreign investor who buys a unit in Vancouver and decideds to rent it out only through Airbnb. Three new laws may apply: provincial tax on foreign investors; empty-homes tax on the unit because something rented out as Airbnb doesn’t count as occupancy; and then whatever regs come in for Airbnb.)
Anyhoo, back to the subject at hand. So the city will be proposing some kind of regulatory system for short-term rentals in a report out next week. Details are still being worked out, but from everything I can gather, in my story here, the proposal will restrict any rentals to people who are renting out their primary residences (either a spare room in there or the whole house when they’re out of town.)
2 responses so far ↓
1 penguinstorm // Sep 20, 2016 at 7:30 pm
There’s nothing new required here: treat them as a commercial business. If they’re not zoned for it, shut them down. When they sell the property tax it as a business (and no capital gains exemption.)
Enforcement is the problem–not regulations.
2 Kenji // Sep 22, 2016 at 10:29 am
I know people who own numerous apartments and rent them out basically as hoteliers. It’s not their own residence, they only go inside to change the sheets. These are the high priority problem causers IMO.
The way to go after them would be some sort of financial tracking, I think. Which is federal, I know.