Rentals & TenanciesJuly 9, 2026 · 7 min read

BC's Short-Term Rental Rules: What Strata Owners Need to Know

Thinking of listing your BC strata unit on Airbnb? What the provincial short-term rental rules ask of owners — principal residence, registration, and bylaws.

If you own a condo or townhouse in a BC strata and you're weighing whether to list it on Airbnb, VRBO, or another nightly platform, there are two separate rulebooks you have to satisfy — and most owners only know about one. The first is your strata's own bylaws. The second is the province's Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act, which added a layer of rules that apply to you as the host regardless of what your building allows. This guide focuses on that provincial layer — the part owners most often miss.

Two rulebooks, not one

The single most useful thing to understand about BC short-term rental rules is that the province and your strata are two different authorities, each with its own say. The province sets baseline rules for the whole of BC (with local variations). Your strata can layer its own bylaws on top. To legally rent your unit short-term, you generally have to comply with both — and where they disagree, the stricter rule wins.

That distinction matters because owners often assume that if their bylaws are silent on short-term rentals, they're free to list. Since the provincial Act came into force, that's no longer safe: even a building with no short-term rental bylaw at all may sit in a community where the province limits what you're planning.

What counts as a "short-term rental"

The Act generally defines a short-term rental as accommodation offered to the public for a stay of under 90 consecutive days — think nightly and weekly bookings on the usual platforms. Longer, fixed-term arrangements are treated as regular tenancies and fall under different rules entirely. If you're renting to a tenant on a standard lease rather than to travellers, you're in a different world; see our guide to renting out your strata unit after Bill 44.

The exact threshold and how it's measured can shift, so if your plan sits near the line — say, month-to-month furnished stays — confirm which regime you're in before you advertise.

The principal-residence requirement

For owners, this is the big one. In many BC communities, short-term rentals are restricted to the host's principal residence — the home you actually live in for most of the year — often with room for one additional unit such as a secondary suite or a laneway home on the same property.

The practical effect is blunt: in those communities, you generally cannot run a separate investment condo as a full-time Airbnb. If the unit isn't where you live, the rule likely takes it off the table for nightly rentals, no matter how the numbers pencil out.

Where the requirement applies isn't uniform. It's tied largely to community size, and some places — certain resort and tourism areas and many smaller towns — are treated differently or exempt, and municipalities can adjust how the rules apply locally. Because the map of who's in and who's out keeps evolving, check the current provincial guidance and your own municipality directly before you count on short-term income.

This article is general information, not legal advice. The law, the affected communities, and the registration process all change, and every building and municipality is different. Confirm the current rules with the province, your local government, and a strata lawyer before you list.

Registering as a host

Beyond the principal-residence question, the province introduced a provincial registry for short-term rental hosts. In broad strokes: eligible hosts are expected to register, obtain a registration number, and display it on their listing, and the booking platforms are required to validate those numbers and remove listings that don't comply.

On top of the provincial registry, many local governments require their own business licence for short-term rentals — a separate application, fee, and set of conditions. So a fully compliant host may be juggling three things at once: a provincial registration number, a local business licence, and their strata's bylaws.

Registration steps, fees, deadlines, and penalties are exactly the kind of detail that gets updated, so treat the specifics as something to verify rather than memorize. What won't change is the direction of travel: the province is steadily tightening enforcement, and "I didn't know" is not a defence worth testing.

Where your strata bylaws fit in

Clearing the provincial rules doesn't mean you're clear to list — your strata still gets the final, and often the strictest, word. A BC strata can pass a bylaw that bans short-term rentals outright or limits them to stays over a set length, and that bylaw can bind you even where the province would otherwise permit a principal-residence rental. We cover the council side of this in detail in can your strata stop Airbnb?.

Bill 44 stripped stratas of the ability to ban or cap ordinary long-term rentals, but it deliberately left short-term rental bylaws intact — so a "no rentals" bylaw aimed at tenants is generally unenforceable, while a properly passed short-term rental bylaw is very much alive. If you're unsure which of your building's rules actually holds up, our plain-English breakdown of strata rules vs bylaws in BC is a good starting point.

A quick checklist before you list

Before you accept a single booking, work through the stack from the top down:

Read your strata bylaws first. If short-term rentals are banned or capped in your building, nothing the province allows will save you — stop here and reconsider.
Confirm the community's rules. Check whether the principal-residence requirement applies where your unit is, and whether the unit qualifies.
Register provincially and get your number ready to display, if your listing is eligible.
Get the local business licence if your municipality requires one.
Plan for the money side. Short-term income has tax and cost implications, and you'll still owe strata fees — see who pays strata fees when you rent out your unit.

Miss any one layer and the whole plan is exposed — the owners who get burned are usually the ones who satisfied one rulebook and assumed the others didn't exist.

Frequently asked questions

Do the provincial short-term rental rules override my strata bylaws? No — they sit alongside them. You have to comply with both the province and your strata, and where they conflict, the stricter rule applies. A strata can prohibit short-term rentals even in a community where the province would allow a principal-residence listing.

Can I run my investment condo as a full-time Airbnb in BC? Often not. In communities where the principal-residence requirement applies, short-term rentals are generally limited to the home you actually live in, which takes a separate investment unit off the table for nightly stays. Whether the requirement applies depends on where the unit is, so confirm locally.

What actually counts as "short-term"? The Act generally targets stays of under 90 consecutive days — the nightly and weekly bookings you'd see on Airbnb or VRBO. Longer fixed-term arrangements are treated as regular tenancies under different rules. If your plan sits near the boundary, confirm which category you're in before advertising.

Do I need to register even if my strata already allows short-term rentals? Very likely yes. Your strata's permission is separate from the province's requirements. If your listing is eligible, you may still need a provincial registration number and possibly a local business licence — those obligations don't disappear just because your building says it's fine.

Where do I confirm the current rules? Start with the provincial short-term rental information and your own municipality, then check your strata bylaws. Because thresholds, affected communities, and registration steps change, treat any specific figure or deadline as something to verify — and loop in a strata lawyer if real money is riding on the answer.