73% of short-term rentals now licensed in Vancouver, city says

One year after new regulations for short-term rentals were put into effect, the City of Vancouver says 116 illegal listings have been referred to prosecutors.

Also during that time, 642 warning letters have been sent out, 660 violation tickets have been issued, 276 legal orders have been obtained, 150 listings have been cancelled voluntarily and 117 licences have been suspended, according to a press release from the city.

"A year into our regulations we've seen promising results from our enforcement efforts and I'm looking forward to seeing how our approach continues to adapt to put the needs of Vancouver's long-term renters first," Mayor Kennedy Stewart said in the release.

The city says 73 per cent of all operators who use services like Airbnb to book guests have obtained a business licence since the rules came into force on Sept. 1, 2018.

The city says it has granted a total of 4,025 short-term rental licences as of Aug. 30. City data shows 5,866 active online listings, which may include units with listings on different platforms.

The city says staff have identified 1,600 short-term rental units were identified for review. Since the spring, the audit program program has led to a tenfold jump in licence suspensions and voluntary licence cancellations.

This summer, a commercial operator with 35 listings at two properties was fined $20,000 for unauthorized short-term rentals, adding to another $20,000 fine levelled previously, according to the city.

Two other commercial operators have been found guilty in provincial court for operating and marketing short-term rentals without a business licence.

Vancouver regulations state that a short-term rental can only be operated from someone's permanent residence for less than 30 consecutive days at a time. All operators must now have a business licence.