BC Short-Term Rental Rules 2026: Where Airbnb Is Still Legal

Small Communities Under 10,000

Communities with a population under 10,000 that are not within 15 kilometres of a larger municipality are automatically exempt. The provincial schedule lists places such as Hope, Lillooet, Merritt, Princeton, Oliver, Keremeos, Castlegar, Trail, Nakusp, New Denver, Quesnel, Smithers, Burns Lake, Port Hardy, Port McNeill, Ladysmith, Lake Cowichan, and many others. The full list runs close to 94 municipalities and is updated periodically by the province.

Strata Hotels and Tourist-Accommodation Zoning

Some buildings sit in commercial or tourist-accommodation zones where short-term rental is the intended use. Whistler is the obvious example, but you also see this in parts of downtown Vancouver, Victoria's inner harbour, and Kelowna's tourism-zoned buildings. These units are exempt from the principal residence rule when the zoning supports them and the building is registered as a strata hotel under the provincial framework.

This is where buying needs to be careful. A condo can sit in a tourism-zoned building one floor and a residential zone the next building over. The zoning information sits in the strata documents, the city's zoning map, and the listing agent's data. Cross-check all three before you sign anything.

Kelowna's Special Case

Kelowna received a one-time exemption from the province in 2026 and is opting out of the principal residence requirement effective June 1, 2026, ahead of the broader 2027 opt-out window. Kelowna's local rule is narrower than the province's, however. Short-term rentals are restricted to tourism-zoned buildings, so an investor-owned condo in a standard residential building still cannot be listed on Airbnb.

If you are shopping Kelowna with STR income in mind, the property must be in a tourist commercial zone (TC) or similar, and the strata bylaws must permit short-term rental. Most do not.

How Municipalities Opt Out (and Why It Matters in 2026)

From 2027 onward, any BC municipality with a sustained rental vacancy rate of 3% or higher for two consecutive years can apply to opt out of the principal residence requirement. The province moved the timeline earlier in 2026: opt-out requests are now due by February 28 with an effective date of June 1, in time for the summer tourism season.

Vacancy rates are published by CMHC each December. Watch communities like Prince George, Nanaimo (depending on year), and parts of the Okanagan in upcoming releases. A community that crosses 3% for two years in a row can become STR-investable again, but only after the formal opt-out is approved.

The City of Vancouver has not signalled any intention to opt out. Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, and the rest of the urban Metro Vancouver core are also expected to stay in.

The Provincial Registry: Required Province-Wide

BC launched a provincial short-term rental registry on January 20, 2025. Every STR host in the province must hold a provincial registration number, regardless of whether they are in an exempt community or not. The number must be displayed on every Airbnb, VRBO, or other platform listing.

Since June 2, 2025, platforms are required to remove listings that do not display a valid registration number. Airbnb and VRBO now share monthly listing data with the province and municipalities, which closes the old loophole where unlicensed hosts could fly under the radar.

If you operate in a community that also requires a municipal business licence (Vancouver, Victoria, and many others), you need both the provincial registration and the local licence. The provincial number does not replace the city one.

Penalties: Why This Is Not Worth the Risk

The province set up a dedicated Compliance and Enforcement Unit and the penalties are stiff:

• Provincial fines: Up to $5,000 per day per infraction for individuals, and up to $10,000 per day for corporations.
• Regional bylaw fines: Maximum fine that a regional district can set under the Offence Act jumped from $2,000 to $50,000.
• Municipal ticketing: Maximum ticket fine that a local government can issue rose from $1,000 to $3,000 per infraction, per day.

The math is brutal. A non-compliant whole-unit listing renting at $250 a night could generate, say, $5,000 a month gross. A single $5,000 daily provincial penalty wipes out the month, and the platform takedown wipes out future revenue altogether. Investor models built on STR cash flow in non-exempt communities are no longer viable.

What to Check Before You Buy a Property for STR

If your purchase math depends on Airbnb income, the order of operations matters. Get answers to all of these before removing subjects:

• Is the municipality on the exempt list? Check the provincial principal residence requirement page. The list updates periodically, so use the live source, not a stale screenshot.
• Does the zoning permit short-term rental? Pull the property's zoning from the city's online zoning map. Confirm with the planning department if you have any doubt.
• Is it a strata building? Read the bylaws. Many BC stratas ban short-term rentals outright, and a strata bylaw overrides everything else. A "no rentals under 30 days" or "no rentals under 6 months" bylaw is common and is binding even in resort municipalities.
• What does the municipality require? Some exempt communities still require a local business licence, parking allowance, an occupancy cap, or proof of insurance.
• Are there active fines or compliance orders on the property? The provincial Compliance and Enforcement Unit can place orders against properties, not just owners. Ask in writing.
• What is the realistic occupancy and ADR? Run the model on Whistler ski-season rates and Tofino summer rates, not on the seller's pro-forma.

Use Zealty's Strata Browser to pull strata documents, including bylaws and depreciation reports, on more than 14,000 BC strata buildings before you make an offer. If a building bans short-term rentals, you want to find out before you write the offer, not after.

Current Investor-Friendly Markets in BC

If the goal is a property that can carry a real short-term rental income stream in 2026, the shortlist is narrow:

• Whistler: Tourist-accommodation zoned condos and townhomes near the village. Highest ADR in the province, strong winter and summer demand. Strata rules vary widely.
• Tofino and Ucluelet: Coastal demand year-round, peak in summer. Local bylaws still apply, with some areas tightening up.
• Sun Peaks, Big White, Revelstoke, Fernie, Kimberley: Mountain resort markets with active rental management companies and strong ski-season rates.
• Harrison Hot Springs and the resort lake markets: Lower entry prices than Whistler, summer-heavy demand.
• Kelowna tourist commercial buildings: A narrow slice, but a real one after June 1, 2026.

Entry prices vary enormously. A studio in Whistler's village can clear $700,000, while a small condo in Fernie or Kimberley can still land under $400,000. Run the after-tax math on each.

Bottom Line

The Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act effectively ended whole-unit Airbnb investing in most of urban BC. The window now sits in roughly 94 exempt municipalities and a handful of resort-zoned buildings, all of which still carry their own zoning, strata, and licensing layers. The provincial registry plus per-day fines mean enforcement is real and expensive.

If you are buying for STR income in 2026, treat the exemption status, the zoning, the strata bylaws, and the local licence as four separate yes-or-no checks. All four need to pass before the deal works.

Start your BC search on Zealty with full MLS data, strata bylaws, and zoning context in one place.