Staff Report: Overview of Short-Term Rentals

OVERVIEW OF SHORT-TERM RENTALS

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated April 30, 2026, from the Director of Development Services titled “Short-Term Rentals” be received for information.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to provide Council with a summary of the Town’s current zoning regulations governing short-term rentals, and identify the policy and bylaw changes that would be required to permit and regulate short-term rental accommodations for a period of less than 90 days.

BACKGROUND:

Council Motions on Short-Term Rentals

At the Council meeting on April 21, 2026, Council passed the following motion:

THAT staff prepare a report outlining the Town’s current regulations governing short term rentals, and identifying the policy and bylaw changes that would be required to permit and regulate short-term rental accommodations for periods of less than ninety (90) days.

In addition to the above, staff presented a report to Council at the January 20, 2026, Council meeting outlining the concerns associated with a non-enforcement period of the Town’s zoning prohibition of vacation rentals from June 1 to July 31, 2026, during the 2026 World Cup Soccer. In the report alternative regulatory options were proposed for Council’s consideration. Following staff’s presentation, Council passed the following motions:

• THAT the report dated January 5, 2026, from the Director of Development Services titled “Consideration of Vacation Rentals" be received for information.
• THAT there be a non-enforcement period for Zoning Bylaw No. 900, 2014 pertaining to short-term rentals from June 1, 2026 to July 31, 2026 during the 2026 World Cup of Soccer.

A copy of the staff report dated January 5, 2026, is available in Attachment 1.

Official Community Plan Policy Context

The Town’s current Official Community Plan (OCP) contains policies to support long term rental housing and encourage an increase in a range of rental housing types, including secondary suites and garden suites. There are two specific policies that convey the Town’s commitment to provide long-term rental housing in the community, which are as follows:

Policy HS1.1 Range of Housing Types Ensure the policies of this Plan and the regulations of the Zoning Bylaw support a range of housing, including detached homes, small lot subdivisions, apartments, townhouses, secondary suites and other typologies that meet the housing needs of current and future residents.

• Special consideration will be given to the provision of ground-oriented units in order to accommodate continued demand for family housing. Increasing the number of garden suites, townhomes, small lot detached houses and other housing forms with ground level entries is essential to realizing the Town’s Vision.

Policy HS1.9 Innovative Approaches

• Support innovative approaches to creating affordable housing including market rental, cooperatives, shelters for persons experiencing homelessness and housing for those at risk of homelessness, co-housing and other forms of shared ownership, mixed market and non-market projects, and public-private partnerships.

Town’s Current Short-Term Rental Zoning Regulations

In 2007, the Town legalized secondary suites in single-family dwellings. Moreover, in 2023, the Town legalized garden suites on single-family and duplex zoned lots. To ensure that these attached and detached suites remain as rentals, the Town’s Zoning Bylaw No. 900, 2014 prohibits stratification and vacation rentals.

For clarity purposes, the Zoning Bylaw refers to a “short-term rental” as a “vacation rental”. On November 15, 2022, Council adopted Bylaw No. 1105 (refer to Attachment 2) to amend the Zoning Bylaw to prohibit vacation rentals or any other form of non-residential commercial overnight accommodation as a principal or accessory use in a dwelling unit, building or on land, regardless of the length of stay, except specifically listed as permitted uses in a zone, including Bed & Breakfast, Hotel, Motel, Campground or Hospital Hotel. Over the years, staff has understood that the intent to prohibit “vacation rentals” are for the following reasons:

• prevent the displacement of residential units by commercial non-residential rental uses and protect long-term rental housing; and
• prevent neighbourhood disturbances (parking, noise, etc.) from non-residential uses in residential zones.

Bed and Breakfasts

The Town’s Zoning Bylaw permits Bed and Breakfasts, a form of short-term vacation rental accommodation. A Bed and Breakfast is defined as follows:

means the provision of nightly accommodation and breakfast only for transient accommodation, as an accessory use within a detached residential dwelling unit.

The current zoning regulations pertaining to Bed and Breakfasts are as follows:

• A bed and breakfast must only be operated as an accessory use within a detached dwelling;
• Bed and breakfast operations may contain a maximum of two sleeping units for transient accommodation;
• A bed and breakfast operation must not alter the residential character and appearance of the detached dwelling;
• The licensed operator of a bed and breakfast operation must reside in the dwelling in which the operation is located; and
• A bed and breakfast operation is not permitted on a lot having a small daycare, a large daycare, or any facility licensed under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act. The maximum length of stay is no more than 60 days in a calendar year.

A Bed and Breakfast operator is required to obtain a business license from the Town as well as register their business on the Province’s Short-Term Rental Registry to advertise their visitor accommodation on Online Accommodation Platforms (OAP), such as Airbnb.

Short-Term Rental Activity in the Town of View Royal

Based on a high-level internet search on OAP (Airbnb and Vrbo), there are approximately seven short-term rental (STR) active listings (does not include Bed and Breakfasts) in View Royal. The majority of STR listings are within single-family dwellings advertised as self-contained suites. There are also a short-term rental Data Portal and third-party providers, such as AirDNA and Granicus, that can provide further insight into the past and present short-term rental context in View Royal; however, these resources were not further explored for this report.

There are currently six Bed and Breakfast licensed operations in View Royal; however, it is unclear if they are all advertised on OAP. Upon review of the current Bed and Breakfast active listings on OAP, a couple of the active listings identified as Bed and Breakfasts, appear to be within fully self-contained suites. Enforcement is conducted on a “by complaint” basis as the Town does not have the staff capacity or resources to monitor OAP.

Provincial Short-Term Rental Legislation

In 2023, the province adopted the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act. According to the province, the purpose of the Act is the following:

• Help more people find a place to live,
• Give local governments stronger tools to enforce short-term rental bylaws, and
• Establish a new provincial role in the regulation of short-term rentals

The province defines a short-term rental as follows:

Short-term rentals are accommodations provided to members of the public in a host’s property, in exchange for money, for a period of less than 90 consecutive days. They are generally tourist accommodations that are often found in residential or resort areas. They may be advertised via online platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, or Booking.com, and may also be advertised on other web forums including Facebook Marketplace, or found in classified ads in newspapers.

Short-term rentals do not include accommodation that was intended to be provided for 90 days or longer, but which unexpectedly ends before 90 days have passed.

Under the provincial legislation, a short-term rental host must register with the provincial short-term rental registry and pay an annual registration fee to operate a short-term rental. Applicants are also required to provide a valid business licence to register. In addition to the registry, the province has developed tools to assist local governments to enforce short-term rental bylaws, such as platform accountability and data sharing.

Even though the province has established legislation on short-term rentals should a local government wishes to permit these uses, a local government can prohibit short-term rentals or establish more stringent requirements to fit their local context.

ANALYSIS:

Council’s motion above requests that staff identifying the policy and bylaw changes that would be required to permit and regulate short-term rental accommodations for periods of less than ninety (90) days. In the Council report dated January 5, 2026 (attached), it outlines the recommended option to legalize short-term rentals for a certain time period, or permanently, which is through a Zoning Bylaw amendment and requires the adoption of a bylaw.

Council may establish zoning requirements that are consistent with the provincial legislation on short-term rentals (i.e., permit short-term rentals in property hosts’ residences for less than 90 days and issue business licenses), or establish more stringent requirements that may reflect the Town’s current housing context, such as restrict the number of days a host can operate a short-term rental on an annual basis, maximum number of guests, maximum number of bedrooms, location of a short-term rental on a property, etc. It is important to consider the implications of short-term rentals on long-term rental housing and impact on existing neighbourhoods. Council may wish to note that more restrictions in place through the legalization of short-term rentals may result in an increase in bylaw complaints. The Town has limited capacity and resources to take on more enforcement responsibilities.

Within the Capital Regional District, it appears that only Colwood and Langford default to the provincial threshold for short-term rentals. Given the quick turnaround of this report, staff did not have sufficient time to review implications and restrictions in place in other municipalities within the region.

Should there be a desire to explore short-term rental options in more detail then Council may wish to consider instructing staff to look into different options for Council’s consideration, including the implications of defaulting to the province’s maximum threshold, which may not be suitable for the town.

Impacts and implications can be summarized as follows:

Community Impact: Permitting short-term rentals would provide additional revenue-generating opportunities for homeowners and offer alternative visitor accommodation for tourists. It may impact the long-term rental housing market.

Financial Implication: There are no financial implications associated with this report.

Inter-governmental Relations Impact: N/A

ALIGNMENT:

The recommended option aligns with the Town’s following core guiding documents as follows:

Strategic Plan: N/A

Official Community Plan: The OCP supports a range of housing types and tenures, especially innovative approaches to providing market rental housing.

Other Policy Documents: N/A

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GOAL:

The desired level of public participation for the recommended option is:

[x] Inform [ ] Consult [ ] Involve [ ] Collaborate [ ] Empower [ ] N/A

TIME CRITICAL:

This report is not time critical.

CONCURRENCE:

REVIEWED BY:

ATTACHMENTS:

Attachment 1: Council Report dated January 5, 2026 Attachment 2: Committee of the Whole report dated November 4, 2021 Attachment 3: Bylaw No 1105