Most Vancouver condos cannot legally be used for short-term rental. A limited number can, and each is governed by its own strata bylaw on top of the City and Provincial rules. This is a current list of those buildings, what each one permits, what a licence costs, and which units are for sale.
Every building on this list. Select a marker for its short-term rental rule.
British Columbia restricts short-term rental to a host's principal residence in most municipalities, and the City of Vancouver applied a principal-residence rule of its own well before the Province did. The practical effect is that buying a condo purely to rent it nightly is not permitted in the ordinary case, and enforcement is active rather than theoretical.
The buildings on this page are the exceptions. They fall outside that default for reasons specific to each: a zoning designation that treats the units as commercial rather than residential, a legacy permission, or a strata that expressly allows it. That is why the list is short, and why it cannot be worked out from a listing description.
Nightly rate is the figure people quote and the least useful one. What determines the return is occupancy across a full year, including the slow months, and what comes off the top: strata fees, the annual licence and registration, platform commission, cleaning, linen, furnishing and its replacement, insurance written for short-term occupancy, and the management fee if the property is not run in person.
Set against a long-term tenancy in the same unit, a short-term rental usually produces a higher gross and a much higher operating cost, with income that varies by season. Whether it is worth doing depends on the building, the unit and how it is run, which is a calculation worth doing on a specific property rather than in the abstract.
A limited number of Vancouver buildings permit short-term rental. Each is governed by its own strata bylaw, on top of the City of Vancouver licence rules and the Provincial registration requirements. The directory on this page lists the buildings currently understood to permit it, the rule that applies in each, and the units for sale.
Only if three separate things allow it. British Columbia sets the outer limit, including principal-residence requirements and provincial registration. The City of Vancouver licenses short-term rentals separately and enforces them. Finally the building's own strata bylaws must permit it, which is the layer that catches most buyers.
The City of Vancouver short-term rental business licence is $1,108 a year, with a $77 one-time application fee. Provincial registration is $100 a year where the property is your principal residence, or $450 a year where it is not, plus a service fee.
No. A City of Vancouver licence is tied to the operator and to the specific unit, so it does not transfer with a sale. A buyer intending to operate should confirm what is required to licence the unit in their own name before removing subjects.
Read the current strata bylaws in full rather than the summary in the listing, and the last two years of minutes for any move to restrict rentals. Confirm the zoning with the City, ask whether an existing licence transfers and on what terms, check the depreciation report for upcoming levies, and confirm your insurer will cover short-term occupancy.
Tell me which building you have your eye on and I'll pull the bylaws and minutes before you commit to anything.