The Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act phased in across 2023 to 2025, and the assumption a lot of councils made — that the Province had taken over enforcement — was half right and half wrong. The Province handles registry and platform compliance. Stratas still write and enforce the bylaws inside their own building. The overlap is where most recent Civil Resolution Tribunal decisions on this issue have been argued. The Province's B.C. short-term rental legislation page lays out the basics; this guide is about the council-side enforcement that the statute did not change.
Provincial registration is a licence to operate. It is not a licence to ignore a strata bylaw.
What the Province now does
The rollout came in stages. Principal-residence rules took effect on May 1, 2024. The provincial short-term rental registry — host registration and the requirement that every listing display a registration number — rolled into operation in 2025. Platform compliance obligations apply on a separate track. In broad strokes, the regime requires hosts in covered communities to:
- Hold a provincial registration number and display it in every listing.
- Operate only in their principal residence in most municipalities, subject to exemption zones.
- Comply with the municipality's own business licence and zoning rules.
Administrative penalties on unregistered supplier hosts start at $5,000 per offence under the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Regulation. Platform penalties operate on a different schedule and can be higher. Municipalities can stack their own fines on top.
This solved the listing-visibility problem the Province wanted to solve. It did not change a single strata bylaw.
What stratas still control
A strata bylaw that prohibits accommodation of less than the threshold the strata has chosen — typically 30, 60, or 90 days — remains enforceable inside the building. The Province's strata short-term rental bylaws page is the canonical reference. Authority comes from the Strata Property Act and the Regulation, including sections 119, 126-133, and 197 of the Act and section 7.1 of the Strata Property Regulation. Council enforcement powers include:
- Bylaw fines. General bylaw fines are capped at $200 per contravention. Rule fines are capped at $50. Short-term accommodation bylaws can carry fines of up to $1,000 per day of continuing contravention if the strata's bylaws are written to use that authority.
- Hearing rights for the owner before the fine becomes enforceable, under section 135 of the Strata Property Act.
- CRT applications to confirm the fine, order compliance, or recover legal costs. The Civil Resolution Tribunal hears most strata disputes regardless of dollar amount; the $5,000 figure people remember is the small-claims jurisdictional cap, not the CRT strata cap.
What the strata cannot do has not changed either. It cannot fine without evidence, cannot fine without notice, and cannot waive procedural fairness because a breach looks obvious. Every CRT decision turning on STR enforcement turns on procedure, not on the underlying conduct.
Where the new Act actually helps a strata
Two practical changes that make enforcement easier:
- Listing evidence is now portable. Provincial registration numbers in every listing make it straightforward for a council or its agent to confirm an address is being marketed as a short-term rental. Before the Act, screenshot-and-hope was the standard. The registry number is the receipt.
- Municipal complaints run in parallel. A bylaw-violating owner is often also breaching municipal zoning or business-licence rules. Filing the municipal complaint in addition to the strata fine adds external pressure the owner cannot ignore by stonewalling the council.
The downside: provincial registration also makes it easier for a legal host (one in their principal residence in an exempt zone) to look legitimate. The strata bylaw still wins inside the building, but the council needs to be clear that "they are registered with the Province" is not a defence against a 30-day-minimum bylaw.
The enforcement sequence that holds up at the CRT
This is the order CRT decisions generally reward. Skip a step and the tribunal sets the fine aside even when the underlying breach is obvious.
- Bylaw review. Confirm the strata's current rental and accommodation restriction is properly filed in the Land Title Office. An unfiled bylaw amendment is unenforceable. Pull the current Form B if there is any doubt.
- Evidence collection. Document the listing: URL, screenshots, dates, provincial registration number if shown, price per night, guest reviews referencing specific unit features. Date-stamp everything.
- Section 135 notice. The owner receives written notice describing the alleged contravention and a reasonable opportunity to answer in writing or at a hearing. This is the step councils most often skip.
- Hearing if requested. Held within four weeks of the request, minutes recorded, decision documented.
- Fine issuance. Letter to the owner stating the bylaw, the contravention, the fine amount, and the appeal route. Continuing-contravention fines accrue from this date if the conduct continues.
- CRT application if unpaid. Most strata bylaw cases are decided on the documentary record. Filing fees are recoverable if the council prevails.
A council that runs this sequence cleanly recovers fines and legal costs more often than not. A council that skips section 135 notice loses on procedural grounds and watches its fine schedule become decorative.
What it costs to enforce
| Step | Typical cost or time |
|---|---|
| Manager time per file (notice, hearing prep, follow-up) | 4–8 hours, billed at $90–$140/hr if extra-fee |
| Legal review of a contested file | $500 – $2,500 |
| CRT application fee | $125 – $225 |
| Award of costs when council wins | Filing fees plus portion of legal |
The financial case for enforcement is rarely break-even on a single file. The return is deterrent. An owner who pays a $1,500 fine after a hearing tells two other owners in the lobby, and the second listing comes down voluntarily. That second listing is the return on the first file.
Enforcement is not a posture. It is a sequence. Write the sequence down once and follow it every time.
How short-term rentals show up in your manager's bill
If you have noticed extra-fee charges climbing on STR files, you are not alone. Bylaw-enforcement coordination is one of the most variable line items in a Metro Vancouver management contract. Some firms include it. Most charge hourly above a threshold. Before the next contract renewal, check the line and compare it against the published Metro Vancouver fee benchmarks for 2026.
If the bill is climbing and the enforcement is not working, that is a different conversation. Run the council through the 10-point performance scorecard to see whether the gap is contractual or capability. The scorecard exists because "we tried but the owner appealed" is a common refrain, and it is not always the manager's fault. Often it is.
The receipt — what to bring to your next council meeting
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Is our rental and accommodation restriction bylaw properly filed in the LTO? | An unfiled bylaw is unenforceable. Verify, don't assume. |
| Do we have a documented evidence-collection process? | Screenshots without dates and URLs lose at the CRT. |
| Do we issue section 135 notice in writing before any fine? | This is the step that holds up procedurally. |
| Is our fine schedule current and does it use the STR-bylaw maximum? | A $200 general fine is weaker than a $1,000-per-day STR fine. |
| Does our manager bill enforcement extra, and at what rate? | Find the line in the contract before the next file lands. |
| Have we filed a parallel municipal complaint where applicable? | External pressure changes owner behaviour faster than internal fines alone. |
For owners trying to escalate a council that will not enforce, the regulator-filing track is documented on our for-owners path. For background on bylaw drafting and the limits of strata enforcement, CHOA's legislative updates page is the cleanest plain-English source outside the Province itself. For councils evaluating whether the current manager is up to the work, our contract-review checklist is the next thing to read.
