According to a District of Sechelt staff report, they received 32 formal complaints in 2024, pertaining to the use of short-term rental (STR) units in residential neighbourhoods.
In addition to complaints from the public, staff monitored STR business operations using tracking software (Granicus), which enabled the enforcement of the pertinent bylaw.
This information will be included in a comprehensive report related to short-term rental-related complaints for 2024, being presented to council, including those related to licensed or suspected unlicensed short-term rentals, in the next two months.
The report on enforcement was to be presented at a regular council meeting Feb. 5, after Coast Reporter’s press deadline.
The report said many of the complaints were resolved by voluntary compliance of the owner/operators, but in some cases bylaw infraction notices had to be issued in order to obtain compliance.
Of the 32 formal complaints, 22 were related to unlicensed operations and 10 to licensed operations. As a result, 62 bylaw infraction notices were issued. It was noted that multiple tickets may have been the result of a single complaint.
Meanwhile, six bylaw-infraction notices were given to licensed STR owner/operators, while five were issued to non-licensed operators for violations within Business Licence Bylaw No. 520, 2012. Violations included operating a business without a licence and advertising without a licence, as identified by bylaw enforcement officers using Granicus software.
The remaining infraction notices were issued for violations within other bylaws, including noise and wildlife attractants.
Additional non-licensed STR operators were identified and, after receiving a warning letter, either complied by removing their listings and ceasing operations or by applying for and obtaining a business licence.
Staff are hoping to move forward with the acquisition of a digital bylaw enforcement platform in 2025, which will consolidate complaints from all sources and enable bylaw enforcement officers to issue notices and/or municipal tickets directly. This will greatly improve both efficiency and ability to provide accurate statistics coming from a central database.
Legislative context
B.C.’s Short-Term Rental Accommodation Act was enacted after the District of Sechelt adopted its short-term rental provisions into Business Licence Bylaw No. 520, 2012. At the time of the writing of this report, the enforcement component of the act had not been completed.
