About Short Term Rentals (RGAS)
An RGA is the rental of a residential dwelling unit, by paying guests, in any housing type (houses, secondary suites, lock-off suites, garden suites, cabins, apartments, and condos) for a temporary period (often less than a month.) RGAs are typically advertised through online venues such as Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway.com, Flipkey.com and others.
Learn how to apply to operate a Residential Guest Accommodation here.
Under the current regulations, there are two “streams” of permittable RGAs:
- Stream 1 is permitted in any residential zone, and allows sharing of up to two bedrooms in a home with a principal resident, or rental of one’s principal residence for up to 3 months in a calendar year.
- Stream 2 is for short term rental of dwelling units where no one permanently resides – this may be permitted through a Temporary Use Permit authorized by Council for a limited term.
Please note that while the regulations originally required an operator to define 3 consecutive months of the year for short term rental of an entire principal residence under stream 1 (eg, May-June-July), an amendment to the bylaws adopted by Council in 2023 now allows operators to select and declare any three months in a calendar year when not living in the unit during the guest stay. The months no longer need to be consecutive (eg. January, August & September).
Enforcement of the new bylaws began on January 1, 2023.
Links
Downloads
RGA Summary of Regulations and F.A.Q.
Definitions
Principal Residence means a single dwelling unit (see definition below) where a person lives at least nine months in a calendar year and conducts their daily affairs, including, without limitation, paying bills and receiving mail, and is the dwelling unit with the residential address used on documentation related to billing, identification, taxation and insurance purposes, including, without limitation, income tax returns, Medical Services Plan documentation, driver’s licenses, personal identification, and vehicle registration.
*A person cannot have more than one principal residence and a principal residence cannot include more than one dwelling unit.
Dwelling Unit means a self-contained room or set of rooms, with a private entrance, that is designed and intended to be occupied as a residence, and includes, at a minimum, separate and distinct sleeping, sanitary and cooking facilities.
Residential guest accommodation (RGA) means the accessory use of a dwelling unit or a portion of a dwelling unit, for the accommodation of paying guests, but is not a residential tenancy.
Residential Tenancy means the use of an entire dwelling unit or portion thereof under a tenancy agreement that has a term of 30 days or more, and is subject to the Residential Tenancy Act.
