Council defers proposed changes to short-term rental regulations at public hearing

News Release

At a public hearing which lasted over four hours, Council voted to defer recommended changes to the Zoning Bylaw aimed at further regulating short-term rental accommodation in Kelowna until more is known about forthcoming Provincial regulations.

The proposed changes, which have not been approved at this time, included updates to the City of Kelowna’s Zoning Bylaw to remove short-term rental accommodation as a permitted secondary use across all zones. This decision means existing rules governing short-term rentals within Kelowna currently remain in effect – however, the temporary pause on short-term rental business licence applications put into place on October 23 continues. This includes all applications, including secondary use, principal use and non-conforming properties.

Council indicated that before a decision can be made more information is needed with respect to yet-to-be announced regulations for the implementation of the Provincial government’s Short-term Rental Accommodations Act. This includes more detailed guidance regarding new principal residence requirements; changes to legal non-conforming use protections; the Provincial short-term rental registry; the Provincial compliance and enforcement unit; and increased fines or tickets.

The City will continue to review legislation from the Province of British Columbia regarding the Short-term Rental Accommodations Act and its associated regulations and report back to Council in the coming weeks.

For more information, visit: kelowna.ca/short-term-rentals.