Why You Can’t Airbnb Vancouver Apartments

Strata management companies are now issuing major fines to people who Airbnb Vancouver apartments. A tough pill to swallow for many investors and people looking to make some extra cash on the side.

So why are strata’s fining owners who rent out their apartment on Airbnb?

It’s simple, high turnover causes additional wear and tear on a building, the hallways, carpets, etc. Many additional noise complaints, and jeopardizing the security of the building. Owners who have a new neighbour every weekend are fed up.

Generally each strata has restrictions on rentals, there’s usually a minimum lease requirement even though your building allows rentals there is a minium tenancy lease requirement and usually its anywhere from six months or a year. Ive seen it as low as 1 month. So basically if you’re doing Airbnb every single weekend or whatever the case is then you don’t actually have a signed lease. The standard form K required to be signed by tenants is not submitted to strata so they have no idea who is living in there and who has the keys/fobs and access to the entire building.

Strata is going to come down hard on people who violate the restrictions on short term rentals (Airbnb). I’ve heard of some Stratas fining people up to $500 per week.

How Will they Know if you Airbnb your apartment?

Your neighbours and your strata managers are scouring Airbnb and looking for your listings. If they see your condo on there they’re going to send you a letter and a warning. They may issue you a warning depending on the circumstances, after that you will start getting fined. 

If you still want to do Airbnb rentals as an income source,  my recommendation would be to find a building that is heavily tenanted. Your neighbours will most likely be tenants and so they won’t care as much compared to an owner occupied building. There are still a few buildings in Vancouver which don’t have restrictions on short term rentals (Airbnb) so look for those. 

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