Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act
Also known as: STRAA · BC Short-Term Rental Act
BC legislation effective May 1, 2024 in most municipalities, restricting short-term rentals (under 90 nights) to the operator's principal residence plus one secondary suite or ADU on the same property.
STRAA came into force May 1, 2024 in most BC municipalities. Short-term rentals — defined as rentals under 90 consecutive nights — are now restricted to the operator's principal residence, plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on that same property. A provincial registry is now mandatory; platforms (Airbnb, VRBO) must validate listings against the registry.
Several categories are exempt: resort-area municipalities (e.g. Whistler, Tofino, Sun Peaks), First Nations lands, certain farm operations and agritourism, fishing and hunting lodges. Investors evaluating a property whose pencil relied on STR income must re-pencil at long-term-rental rates if the property is in a non-exempt municipality.
Related terms
- RTA Bill 14 (2024) — Personal-Use Eviction Reform — BC Residential Tenancy Act amendment effective July 18, 2024 lengthening personal-use eviction notice from 2 to 4 months, requiring 12 months minimum occupancy by the new occupant, and introducing a web portal to combat fraudulent personal-use evictions.
- BC Annual Rent Cap — The maximum allowable annual rent increase for existing BC tenancies, set yearly by the Residential Tenancy Branch — 2.
- BC Residential Tenancy Act (SBC 2002, c. 78) — The BC Residential Tenancy Act (SBC 2002, c.
- BC Notice to End Tenancy (RTB Forms) — The prescribed BC Residential Tenancy Branch forms a landlord must use to end a tenancy — RTB-30 (cause), RTB-32 (personal/family use, 4 months as of July 18, 2024), RTB-29 (10 days for unpaid rent), and several others — each with its own grounds, notice period, and tenant dispute window.
See also
Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_straa,
author = {Job, Bronson},
title = {{BC Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act (STRAA)}},
howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.straa},
urldate = {2026-05-08},
note = {Fact ID: bc.straa, version 1.}
}Job, B. (2026). BC Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act (STRAA). *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-05-08, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.straa
BC Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act (STRAA) — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-05-08). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.straa
Fact id: bc.straa · v1 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/bc.straa.json
Verified sources (2)· re-verified 2026-05-08Click to expand
Every claim on this page is sourced to a primary government, regulator, or industry-association URL. We re-verify quarterly; the verification dates below show when each source was last confirmed against the live government page.
- BC Governmentretrieved 2026-05-08Short-term rentalshttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/short-term-rentals
- BC Governmentretrieved 2026-05-08Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act, SBC 2023, c. 37https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/23037_01
bc.straa · v1View in Codex →License: This definition is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: "Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act", BC Real Estate Glossary by Bronson Job, https://www.bronsonjob.com/glossary/short-term-rental-act.
