Judge fortifies short-term rental restrictions

B.C. communities like Summerland that are cracking down on short-term rental properties have received an important vote of support from a provincial court judge.

It came in a December 2022 decision that was released publicly this week and concerns a lawsuit filed by eight property owners against the District of Sechelt.

All eight plaintiffs live outside Sechelt and sought to strike down new regulations that classified their short-term rental properties in Sechelt as secondary residences.

The new regulations, which took effect Jan. 1, 2023, still permit using secondary residences as short-term rentals, but now requires the owners to obtain a temporary use permit alongside a business licence.

The plaintiffs argued the regulations should be declared invalid because they discriminate against property owners based on where they live and the business licence bylaw that gave effect to the changes was improperly used to prohibit business.

None of those arguments succeeded.

“While each of the impugned provisions establish rules respecting what ‘must or must not be done’ in relation to short-term rental businesses, this falls precisely within the definition of the term ‘regulate’ that is set out in the schedule to the Community Charter,” wrote Judge Jan Brongers in his decision.

“In particular, each of the Impugned provisions impose limits and restrictions on short-term rental businesses, but do not outright prohibit or prevent them from operating.”

The judgement came as welcome news to Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes, whose community tightened up its rules for short-term rentals last year and now only permits whole-house rentals if the operator or another long-term tenant lives in another dwelling on the same property.

“We are encouraged to see the court acknowledge and confirm the powers of local government to provide regulatory certainty in this area,” said Holmes in a statement Wednesday.

“In creating the Summerland model, council worked hard to reduce the impact of short-terms rentals on our housing supply, while also setting parameters to allow their responsible use in our community to serve the travelling public.

“Since the adoption of our new regulations (February 2022), the district has seen an increase in building permits issued for carriage houses and secondary suites.”

The Sechelt case will also be of interest to the City of Penticton and Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen, both of which are doing reviews of their respective short-term rental programs.

A consultant involved in Penticton’s review told council last week the proliferation of short-term rentals in the city drove up prices across the board and led to long-term tenants paying $47.9 million in excess rent for the years 2016 through 2021. The consultant also found that the approximately 500 shortterm rentals operating in Penticton accounted for only about 1% of the total housing supply.