Complaints about short-term rentals spike in Vancouver
Posted October 25, 2016 5:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Fifty-five complaints about short-term property rentals have been called in to the city of Vancouver so far this year, compared to 19 in all of last year.
In recent months, city staff have been stepping-up their enforcement of short-term rentals like the kind offered by Airbnb, almost all of which are illegal under the current bylaws.
Chief licensing inspector Andrea Toma says people typically report concerns involving the noise, safety problems, and nuisances posed by such rentals.
“The most complaints are the multiple listings, so when somebody comes across a unit that’s either being listed on multiple platforms, or they see the same person that lists multiple units,” she says.
Enforcement of the current regulations are based largely on such complaints. Toma credits the higher volume to a greater public familiarity with their ‘311’ service, more media discussion of short-term rentals, and the city’s own public education campaign.
A new regulatory framework legalizing roughly half of the current short-term rental listings will be presented to city council in the new year.
