Short- term rental rules hinge on enforcement, critic says
City’s mechanism to control influence of Airbnb and others potentially ‘ not viable’
It’s one thing to dream up a regulatory framework for short- term rentals, but enforcing it is another thing entirely.
As the City of Vancouver noted in a recent report, “the general consensus among policy- makers and academics” is that no city has effectively enabled and enforced short- term rental activity.
Despite that disheartening track record, Vancouver on Tuesday be- came the latest municipality to try.
Erez Aloni, an assistant professor at the University of B. C.’ s Allard School of Law, said barring co- operation from short- term rental platforms like Airbnb, the city’s enforcement mechanism may prove unviable.
“I think what the municipality here is doing is innovative and interesting, but the questions about enforcement are open questions,” he said. Vancouver “relies on many things that are unclear yet, that are unknowns. I think it’s an interesting experiment, but I hope they will be able to revisit it if they find out in a few months that it’s not viable.”
Vancouver’s incoming regulatory scheme will allow some homeowners or tenants to rent out part or all of their principal homes for short stays.
Those ineligible for a licence or who don’t bother getting one could face a fine of up to $ 1,000 — but that’s if the city can figure out how to track them down.
Last month, Green party Coun. Adriane Carr asked staff in writing how they would identify such hosts. The two- page response from staff described the enforcement process.
Staff plan to use “screenscraped” data — that is, information pulled from websites — to identify postings by unlicensed hosts. Then, they will use “multiple data sources” as well as the screen- scraped data to identify the host’s location and unit.
A report to council notes screenscraped data “cannot accurately be used to determine an address in multi- unit buildings.” It is unclear how such units would be identified and an interview with city staff did not clear that up. A request for clarification of what data sources the city planned to rely on yielded no further information.
If staff still cannot identify the host, they could “consider making a booking and visiting the unit to collect evidence” or seek a court order to require a short- term rental platform to share its data, according to the city.
If the city obtains enough information to identify the host, staff will send a letter asking them to stop renting the unit or face fines or an injunction.
In Aloni’s mind, Vancouver’s success depends on the co- operation of short- term rental platforms. But the city said no short- term rental platforms have been willing to share the private information of its hosts.
Many cities require hosts to be licensed or registered, including Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Portland, Ore.; New Orleans and San Francisco. Earlier this year after a legal battle, Airbnb agreed to turn over host registration information to San Francisco city officials. Disclosure of information was not court- ordered and the agreement did not set a legal precedent, Aloni said.
Alex Dagg, an Airbnb spokeswoman, said the company looked forward to supporting Vancouver “through this new chapter of regulation.”
The city plans to have a dedicated enforcement co- ordinator and an additional inspector to support complaint- driven inspections and audits.