B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has told a Lower Mainland strata to enforce its bylaws and stop owners from operating Airbnbs.
“The strata was created before Airbnb existed, and the filed strata plan says the strata is entirely for residential use,” tribunal member Kate Campbell said in her June 19 decision.
Larry Honeybourne and Earnest Foster Willan each own or co-own strata lots in the strata corporation. They claimed owner RL was operating an Airbnb business without permission and contrary to strata bylaws.
They requested an order from Campbell that the strata enforce its bylaws, including by having RL stop running the Airbnb.
RL was the strata council member who represented the strata in the case. He told the tribunal the unit is used for short-term accommodation (STA) when it's not in use, about 25 per cent the year.
“The strata says this use is permitted under municipal bylaws, and there is no strata bylaw prohibiting STAs for periods of less than one month,” Campbell said.
The tribunal's ruling noted the strata has no bylaw that explicitly mentions Airbnb use, or STAs.
Honeybourne and Willan relied on other bylaws, which said units are for single-family residential use only and that an owner must not use a strata lot in a way that is contrary to a purpose for which the strata lot is intended.
Honeybourne and Willan argued the bylaws mean STAs are entirely prohibited.
Campbell noted two B.C. Supreme Court decisions in her conclusion.
Summarizing one, she said, “The court found that providing accommodations in a home to tourists was not a residential use and that a residential use must be “non-transient.”
Another, she said, decided “that STAs were not a business purpose.”
And, citing a B.C. Court of Appeal case, Campbell said, “residential use of strata property ‘differs markedly from commercial use for short-term accommodation.’”
“I find that RL’s use of his strata lot for Airbnb is a commercial use, and is not a residential use,” Campbell said, agreeing with Honeybourne and Willan's bylaw arguments.
She ordered the strata to enforce its bylaws to stop the rentals.
