The rules and issues around the COVID-19 pandemic continue to evolve and information changes consistently. Please take note of when our content was written and always goâŻtoâŻthe sources weâve provided for the most current guidance.
British Columbians heading out of town for summer holidays may want to be aware of the new rules when it comes to vacation rentals. Here are three key things to know.
New rules for vacation rentals
According to Dr. Bonnie Henry, parties at vacation accommodations are sources of community outbreaks. As of July 27, 2020, the new Provincial Health Officer (PHO) Order requires that guests respect the official nightly capacity of the accommodation they are renting. Read the new rules in detail in the PHO Order.
3 things to know about the new rules for vacation rentals
- The number of people that can be in a vacation rental is limited to the capacity of the space you rented, plus a maximum of five additional visitors. For example, if an AirBnB property has listed a capacity of 10 guests, a maximum of 10 guests may stay overnight and up to five additional visitors. This would apply to BBQs, dinner parties, etc. Visitors are not allowed to spend the night.
- Rental owners must gather the contact information for both guests and visitors and keep it for 30 days for the purposes of contact tracing. If you are a guest or visitor at a vacation rental, expect to provide this information to the owner.
- Rental owners are responsible for making sure the rules are followed.
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Look throughâŻall ofâŻour COVID-19 related information on our website.
Where do we fit in?
Yes, we are a provincial regulator. We are responsibleâŻforâŻsome very specific transactions in BC. WeâŻarenâtâŻexperts on COVID-19. WeâŻwonâtâŻâ and shouldnât â ever give medical or legal advice. But we are in a unique circumstance right now and we want to help peopleâŻnavigate the current reality. We donât have all the answers, but we will do our best to share information from reliable sources, put it in ways that are easy to digest and understand, provide referrals and help you navigate this situation.
About Consumer Protection BC
We are responsible for regulating specific industries and certain consumer transactions in British Columbia. If your concern is captured under the laws we enforce, we will use the tools at our disposal to assist you. If weâŻcanâtâŻhelp you directly, we will be happy to provideâŻyou with as much informationâŻasâŻpossible. Depending on your concern, another organization may be the ones to speak to; other times, court or legal assistance may be the best option. Explore our website atâŻwww.consumerprotectionbc.ca.
Not a lot of information here. I was hoping for information on how vacation rentals are being regulated regarding Covid-19 cleanliness and safety standards to protect renters.
Hi Deb, if you’re looking for more detailed information, you may want to look at the government site here. This is more related to residential tenancy but may apply to vacation rentals as well. If you have further questions you could contact the branch directly. I hope this helps!
Great news. Just a question…WHO follows up with illegal STR? Self check in self check out, no one monitoring WHO actually moves in , home owner lives in another city, no Covid sanitizing etc…
West Kelowna, BC needs stricter Bylaws, stricter enforcement, shut down illegal STR and keep our community safe. Action is needed NOW!
Hi Sabine, we don’t oversee short term vacation rentals but as far as we know, cities and municipalities set different rules when it comes to rental properties. Contacting City of West Kelowna and writing to them to see who you can appeal to regarding stricter bylaws would be a good first step so you can get in touch with the right people. Best of luck to you, Sabine!
Hi there: I am trying to get information on opening a short-term rental business. Namely, is only one trust account sufficient to flow all funds through for properties owned by multiple people.
Hi Ashley, thanks for your question. We canât help people start businesses. You may want to visit the provincial governmentâs website to learn more and reach out to them with your question here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/business/managing-a-business/starting-a-business. I hope this helps.
I read the vacation rental government page and understood as 5 people per group. If Consumer Protection BC as a non profit is going to act as a translator of the government rules, please make every effort to be correct. Are you sure itâs 10 plus 5? That seems to be too many family pods overlapping.
Hi Elke, thank you for posting a comment here. Please know that this article was written on July 30, 2020 and BC government’s restrictions and recommendations are constantly changing. As of today (August 19, 2020) I see that inside of your social bubble is defined as members of your immediate household and can be carefully expanded to include others. The government website recommends limiting the number of people in your bubble but it does not specify. In personal settings when you’re seeing friends and family who aren’t in your bubble, they recommend that you only get together in small groups of 2 to 6 people and keep 2 m of physical distance. All of this information is accessible here.
When it comes to vacation rentals, this information comes from the order that was released on August 7, 2020 and on page 3 (here is the link to that document), it states that “A maximum of five individuals may attend a social gathering or an event in vacation accommodation, in addition to the occupants” so if your vacation accommodation allows 2 occupants, then you can have 5 additional people attend a social gathering making the total number to 7. I hope this information is helpful and as I mentioned before, we will do our best to share up-to-date information on our platforms.
Hi. We have a common room in our strata complex that holds 48 people . We used to have our pot luck dinners in there. What would be the requirements now if we were to have a pot luck dinner now? The majority of our residents are over the age of 65.
Thank you for your advice.
Shirley
Hi Shirley, as of August 27, 2020, BC Centre for Disease Control has a message on their website – “At this time, all in-person gatherings of any size are strongly discouraged”. The event planning page from their website has a link to the August 7, 2020 order from the Provincial Health Officer and all the rules are written in the document. Here’s the link to the website. Given that the residents are mostly over 65, you may need to avoid any gatherings for now.
I have a vacation rental that is listed as sleeping 16 . A guest is requesting for a family member to join for a few days of their stay. There a rollaway cot in the unit not advertised..is it reasonable to permit this request or is it a hard line in the sand ? All one family ..
Hi Don, as we’re simply sharing the Provincial Health Officer’s order and we do not oversee this issue, we’re not able to give you any further details. Having said that, you may want to take a look at the order yourself, page 3 of this document talks a lot about vacation accommodation. This page also has some information as well.
Hello Amanda. My parents booked a winter getaway on the Island. They had to cancel due to Covid concerns etc. They gave 63 days notice and Jane at Xanadu Estate kept the deposit. May you point us in the right direction to acquire the deposit back?
Thank you,
Hi Steve, thank you for contacting us. Sounds like your parents cancelled the booking voluntarily so they may be subject to the terms and conditions of the booking. Would you be able to submit a formal complaint to us? We would like to take a look at the contract and the terms and conditions if possible. That way we would have a more wholesome picture of the situation. You can submit the form online here. Thank you.