Province nixes Kelowna's request for short-term rental exemptions

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Kelowna homeowners hoping to gain an exemption to continue offering short-term rentals are out of luck.

This includes people living along Sunset Drive and residents waiting to move into the Aqua development, among others.

When council adopted sweeping changes to the city's short-term rental bylaws last month, they also asked staff to compile a list of properties zoned for short-term rentals that could be considered for exemptions and follow up with the province.

"Through the additional communication with the province it was determined that any city request for exemptions for specific building/development sites would not be considered because it would not meet the intent of the legislation," staff wrote in a report for city council.

"It originally appeared from the legislation that there may be the ability for local government to request exemptions on a site-by-site basis, but further research has determined that this is not the case."

The provincial legislation does provide for some exemptions specific to buildings, including:

• Strata titled hotel or motel if the owner may not use the property as a principal residence due to mandatory provisions in a rental pool or rental management agreement.
• Properties where owners hold a fractional interest and cannot use the property as their principal residence due to mandatory provisions in a fractional ownership agreement.
• Time share properties.
• Home exchanges.
• Lodges, i.e., accommodation
• Living accommodation primarily for students or employees of an educational institution that is owned or operated by the educational institution or a non-profit organization.
• Strata corporation guest suites intended mainly for people visiting strata residents.