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Vancouver is the only city in Canada to have an arrangement with a short-term rental provider (Airbnb) that blocks hosts from the site unless they provide a business licence number. The law came into effect on Sept. 1, 2018, a day after Airbnb delisted 2,482 Vancouver units because they didn’t have a licence.

Between the start of enforcement and Oct. 10, 2019, the city suspended 204 licences, while another 223 were voluntarily cancelled due to threat of enforcement. The city also issued 1,810 legal orders, violation tickets or warning letters to unlicensed operators, with 120 listings referred for prosecution.

As of Oct. 10, 2019 there were just over 5,000 short-term rental listings in the city, with 1,100 in the downtown area. According to the city report, Airbnb makes up 82 per cent of those listings, while Expedia is second with 11 per cent.

Holm is also recommending the cost of a business licence roughly double from $51 to $99. This is expected to generate an extra $200,000 a year, that would go toward the $700,000 a year cost of operating the program.

She also wants professional short-term rental managers to obtain a $155 city Property Manager Licence and hosts be asked for more information to prove that the property is a principal residence.

Overall, Holm said the short-term rental program was working well.

“Staff found that overall, the current STR regulations and program administration have been successful in terms of licensing and enforcement,” Holm wrote. “Vancouver continues to be looked to in Canada as a leader in this challenging area of regulation, a sentiment often expressed to staff by counterparts in other cities in Canada.”

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