{"id":8093,"date":"2026-04-17T10:38:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/?p=7617890"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:38:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:38:53","slug":"kelowna-gets-to-opt-out-of-restrictive-provincial-regulations-on-short-term-rentals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8093\/kelowna-gets-to-opt-out-of-restrictive-provincial-regulations-on-short-term-rentals\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelowna gets to ‘opt-out’ of restrictive provincial regulations on short-term rentals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The province is letting Kelowna opt-out of the restrictive regulations governing short-term rentals as the city’s rental vacancy rate is on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The provincial government was likely to give Kelowna looser short-term rental rules in November, but now those changes will go into effect on June 1, according to a press release from the Ministry of Housing issued today, April 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The short-term rental ban went into effect on May 1, 2024, with the goal of preventing people from taking housing off the market for long-term renters in cities that had low vacancy rates. Since then, Kelowna has increased its vacancy rate from 1.7 per cent to 6.2 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur short-term rental rules are focused on returning homes to the long-term market for people and giving communities with healthy rental markets the flexibility to provide additional tourist accommodation,\u201d Housing Minister Christine Boyle said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules state that a city with a vacancy rate above 3 per cent is allowed to opt-out of the principal residence requirement for short-term rentals, meaning people can rent out investment properties as Airbnbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City of Kelowna hinted that this change was imminent<\/a> by creating new zoning bylaws to control where short-term rentals are located to protect long-term rental supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelowna was the only municipality to apply to opt-out of the short-term rental regulations and have the date moved up from November since the Memorial Cup, BC Summer Games and Touchdown Kelowna are coming to town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith a number of major events ahead this summer, Kelowna is ready to welcome visitors and support our local economy, while maintaining a balanced approach that respects our neighbourhoods and protects housing supply,\u201d Kelowna\u2019s mayor Tom Dyas said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has been asking for this for months.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew had tried to push the date up through his own initiatives like a bill amending the Short-Term Accommodations Act, but that bill didn\u2019t pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe City of Kelowna deserves credit for its patience and professionalism: both in delivering on housing supply and in developing evidence-based short-term rental policies that reflect local needs,” Dew said in a press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is unfortunate that the provincial government took this long to acknowledge that a local solution was both available and appropriate.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kelowna was the only municipality to apply to opt-out of the short-term rental regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":7800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1680,541,543],"tags":[],"region":[322,323,324,325],"class_list":["post-8093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8093\/kelowna-gets-to-opt-out-of-restrictive-provincial-regulations-on-short-term-rentals\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Kelowna gets to ‘opt-out’ of restrictive provincial regulations on short-term rentals","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8093\/kelowna-gets-to-opt-out-of-restrictive-provincial-regulations-on-short-term-rentals\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/news\/8093\/kelowna-gets-to-opt-out-of-restrictive-provincial-regulations-on-short-term-rentals\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-Screenshot-2025-12-17-at-1.14.18-PM.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inhome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/inhome-Screenshot-2025-12-17-at-1.14.18-PM.png"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jesse Tomas"}],"creator":["Jesse Tomas"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNhome","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-04-17T17:38:51Z","datePublished":"2026-04-17T17:38:51Z","dateModified":"2026-04-17T17:38:53Z"},"rendered":"