BC Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act — 2026 Enforcement Update

British Columbia’s Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act (STRAA, SBC 2023, c.44) passed in fall 2023, became operationally effective on May 1, 2024 for the principal residence requirement, and moved to full enforcement by June 2025 with the launch of the provincial registry. Two years in, the rollout has produced measurable rental-market results and has begun to differentiate between communities using CMHC vacancy data. This brief summarises the state of enforcement in April 2026: what the rules are, who they apply to, the updated exempt list, the penalty structure, and the 2026 amendments that affect operators.

The core rule — principal residence since May 2024

Section 14 of the STRAA restricts short-term rental activity in affected communities to: (a) the host’s principal residence — defined as “the usual place where an individual makes the individual’s home” — plus (b) a maximum of one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit on the same property. The effect is that a host in an affected community may list one unit where they actually live, and optionally a basement suite or laneway home on the same property, but cannot operate a separate investment property as a short-term rental. The rule took effect May 1, 2024.

The requirement applies in more than 77 BC communities, broadly those with a population above 10,000. As of November 1, 2025, the provincial list includes Vancouver, Victoria, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Kelowna, Squamish, Pemberton, Salt Spring Island, Bowen Island Municipality, and dozens more. Bed-and-breakfast operators remain permitted provided the owner lives on the property — B&Bs are not displaced by the principal residence rule.

Who is exempt — the 2026 list

The principal residence requirement does not apply to:

• Municipalities with a population under 10,000 that are not within 15 km of a larger municipality (approximately 82 communities, including Fernie, Golden, Invermere, Kimberley, Revelstoke, Tofino, and Ucluelet)
• The 14 Resort Municipality Initiative communities, including Whistler
• Mountain and ski resort areas in Schedule 1 of the regulation (31 facilities including Sun Peaks, regional destination resorts, BC Parks resorts, private ski resort areas)
• First Nation Reserve lands, Nisga’a Lands, and Treaty First Nation lands (unless the First Nation has entered a coordination agreement opting in)
• Islands Trust territories (except Bowen Island Municipality, Gabriola, and Salt Spring, which are in the applicable list)
• BC Assessment farm-class (Class 9) land
• Seasonal accommodation not equipped for year-round residence
• Hotels, motels, hostels, traditional resorts, time-share properties, fractional ownership where principal-residence use is prohibited, strata guest suites, and student/employee housing by educational institutions or non-profits

Communities have the option to opt in or opt out of the principal residence requirement at specific windows. 2025 opt-ins: the Town of Creston, Salt Spring Island (electoral area), and Electoral Area B of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. 2025 opt-outs: the District of Tofino, Electoral Area E (Cowichan Valley RD), and Electoral Area G (Cowichan Valley RD). The most notable 2026 change is Kelowna’s opt-out, which takes effect June 1, 2026 and is geographically limited to tourism-zoned buildings — preserving the principal residence rule in residential areas of the city.

Starting in 2027, any municipality with a CMHC-measured vacancy rate of at least 3% for two consecutive years may submit an opt-out request by February 28 for a June 1 effective date — a compressed timeline from the previous March-31-submission / November-1-effective-date schedule.

The provincial registry — two-year status

The provincial Short-Term Rental Registry launched on May 1, 2025. Every BC short-term rental — regardless of whether the community is subject to the principal residence rule — must register with the province and display the provincial registration number on all listings. The registry is the enforcement mechanism: it is how platforms and the Compliance and Enforcement Unit identify compliant versus non-compliant listings.

Annual registration fees as of the 2025 rollout:

• $100 (+$1.50 service fee) for an STR in which the host lives (principal-residence unit or a room within it)
• $450 (+$1.50 service fee) for an STR the host does not live in (secondary suite, cottage, laneway home)
• $600 for strata hotel units and strata hotel platforms

Registration requires government-issued BC ID plus at least two supporting documents from a prescribed list — land title certificate, current property assessment, ICBC insurance, home insurance certificate, property tax notice, speculation/vacancy tax letter, homeowner grant confirmation, banking statement, or government agency notices. Tenant-operated STRs additionally require a current rental agreement or landlord rent-increase notice within the past year. Approximately 20,000 listings had registered by the May 2025 launch against an estimated 28,000 STRs in BC when the legislation was introduced in 2023.

Platform accountability in practice

Under STRAA s.17, platforms including Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com must: maintain a designated platform representative in BC; enable hosts to post both provincial registration numbers and municipal business licence numbers on their listings; validate registration numbers against provincial data; share monthly listing data with local governments on a confidential basis; remove non-compliant listings at local government request; and refuse to facilitate bookings for listings lacking a valid registration number. As of June 1, 2025 platforms were required to stop advertising unregistered listings and prevent new bookings; as of June 23, 2025 they were required to cancel all future bookings from unregistered hosts. Platforms that fail these obligations face investigation by the provincial Compliance and Enforcement Unit (CEU) and their own administrative penalties.

Penalties — provincial, municipal, regional

The penalty structure is layered. Provincial administrative penalties are set by regulation rather than by a single statutory maximum; the commonly cited figure is up to $10,000 per day for failing to register an STR, with increasing maximums for successive contraventions. Enforcement actions include compliance orders — legally binding directives which, if defied, can be filed with BC Supreme Court as court orders. Municipal ticketing under local bylaws runs up to $3,000 per infraction per day (raised from the previous $1,000 cap). Regional district prosecution fines reach up to $50,000 (raised from $2,000). The Director may enter into an administrative penalty agreement to reduce or cancel a penalty; hosts facing enforcement should be aware of this negotiated resolution pathway. Penalties must be paid within 60 days of issuance.

Layered compliance — municipal and strata rules still apply

The STRAA does not replace or override municipal licensing or zoning requirements. A host who is Act-compliant and provincially registered still needs a municipal business licence where the city requires one (Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, and most other large BC municipalities do), and must operate in a zoning category that permits STR use. Both layers are simultaneously enforceable. A host can be fully STRAA-compliant and still shut down by the city for operating in a non-STR zone.

Strata bylaws layer separately again. A strata corporation can prohibit short-term rentals in its bylaws entirely, regardless of what the STRAA permits. The Act does not override strata authority. A host in a strata building must check the building’s bylaws (available via Form B) before listing, and a strata bylaw amendment prohibiting STRs is enforceable by the strata against the owner through fines and, if necessary, CRT proceedings.

Market impact — the numbers so far

According to the 2026 BC government news release accompanying the opt-out acceleration, provincial asking rents have dropped 14.3% province-wide since STRAA restrictions began. Kelowna specifically saw a 5.7% rental price decrease in the past year. Vacancy rates in communities over 10,000 people rose from 1.2% in 2023 to 3.5% in 2025. Separate 2025 figures from an earlier news release cite a 6.1% province-wide rent decrease and an 11.4% decrease in Vancouver — both smaller windows than the 14.3% full-period figure. The two measurements reflect different methodologies and time windows but both point in the same direction: the policy has produced a measurable reduction in listed rental prices and an increase in long-term rental supply.

Bottom line

The STRAA regime in April 2026 is operationally mature. The core rule — principal residence in communities above 10,000 — has been live for two years. The registry is live and platforms are validating numbers. Penalties have real teeth. The exempt list is stable but has a structured opt-in/opt-out mechanism tied to CMHC vacancy data. For any BC property owner considering short-term rental activity, the operational question is no longer “will this be enforced” but “am I in an applicable community, do I meet the principal residence test, have I registered with the province, have I obtained my municipal licence, and have I checked my strata bylaws.” All five have to be yes.