The City of Parksville is seeking an exemption to the province’s new law on short-term rentals for tourist accommodation areas in the city, but the minister of housing says the city needs to increase the vacancy rates for long-term rentals in the area first. Photo of Parksville Bay by marneejill.

Parksville city council requested exemption to new law on short-term rentals

On Monday, Nov. 6, Parksville city council unanimously passed a motion requesting that the province exempt lands in the city designated for resorts, tourist commercial use, the downtown waterfront and restricted recreation areas from Bill 35, which bans short-term rentals on properties other than the owner’s principal residence.

“Those are the areas where they were meant to be available as short-term rentals, because they are timeshares or whatever they are,” said coucillor Mary Beil. “So it doesn't go against the intent of the legislation that's coming forth in terms of freeing up those single family homes and the like that are just not available for people as long term [rentals]”.

Beil says the request for an exemption would recognize “that we have some unique properties here that were designed from the get-go to be available for tourist accommodation.”

Parksville Mayor Doug O’Brien says the new law could have a major impact on the city’s tourism sector.

“It’s going to have an impact on the amount of tourist units that are available for our tourism business, which is a very big part of Parksville’s economy,” he said. “That's devastating to our Parksville Qualicum Tourism Association.”

O’Brien also says it could prevent further development of tourist accomodation in the city.

Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon says that if Parksville wants to opt-out of the law, they have to increase the vacancy rate for long-term rentals in the city above three per cent.

“But right now the vacancy rate in that area is around one per cent or less,” he said. “That means there are a lot of people struggling to find housing. That has an impact on tourism, because you're not able to attract the workforce to actually support your tourism industry.”

Kahlon says that instead of trying to get around the new law, council should be focused on facilitating more long-term rentals in the area.

“My message to any community that wants to opt out of the provisions we have put in place is work to get your vacancy rate up, approve housing, get the type of housing you want built in your community, and then we can have a conversation.”

According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Parksville had an overall vacancy rate of 1.2 per cent in 2022, with a zero percent vacancy rate for bachelor and three-bedroom apartments.

Mayor O’Brien says that the city is working to increase the vacancy rate in the city.

“Unfortunately, the Stats Canada stats show us at a 1.3% vacancy rate, but that's a year old. Since that time, we've had a number of new rental apartment building blocks going up, they've broken ground for another one today for another 120 units,” he said. “We are trying to increase the inventory of long term rental units in parksville, and we're succeeding and they're filling up as fast as we can have them built.”

The vacancy rate in Parksville doubled between 2019 and 2022, when it was 0.6 percent. But average rents in the city have increased by almost 50% in the same time period.

Average monthly rents for apartments in Parksville were $1,377 in 2022, ranging from $983 for a bachelor to $1,805 for a three-bedroom apartment.

The Short Term Rental Accommodations Act became law on October 26 and the principal residence requirement comes into force on May 1, 2024.

With files from Lauryn Mackenzie

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.