Tourism groups worry as B.C.’s short-term rental rules change [Video]

Ralph and Tina Gerlitsch say they’ve had to rethink their retirement plans due to B.C.’s new short-term rental regulations.

The couple own a bungalow on a leafy residential street in the Glenmore neighbourhood of Kelowna, B.C., and, for the last couple of years, they’ve also been running a seasonal Airbnb in a downtown Kelowna highrise.

They would rent the apartment to tourists in the summer and students during the academic year. 

“We ran [it] for two years and it was wonderful,” Ralph Gerlitsch said.

However, starting May 1, new provincial rules will make such enterprises illegal.

WATCH | B.C. announces details of new short-term rental rules: A provincial rule to limit short-term rentals to a homeowner’s principal residence plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling comes into force in British Columbia on May 1 in 60 communities. As Zahra Premji reports, 17 additional communities have chosen to opt in to …