Short Term Rentals Petition
Click Here to Sign The Petition
As a large group of Naramata residents who have participated in years of RDOS meetings regarding Vacation Rental regulations we are urging our community to read the following letter to the Editor of mynaramata.com and sign our petition, linked above.
Naramata Needs to ‘opt-in’ Now to New BC Short-Term Rental Regulations
“B.C. has made regulations which will restrict short-term rentals to principal residences and either a secondary suite or an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in many B.C. communities, starting May 1, 2024.”
What is a short term rental in BC? The Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act defines a short-term rental as an accommodation provided to members of the public in a host's property, in exchange for money, for a period of less than 90 consecutive days.
“Effective May 1, 2024, the Province is implementing a provincial principal residence requirement which limits short-term rentals to:
The host’s principal residence
Plus one secondary suite of accessory dwelling unit”
Reference: (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/short-term-rentals/principal-residence-requirement)
While the principal residence requirement does not apply to “Municipalities with populations under 10,000 and not within 15 kilometers of a larger municipality” nor does it refer to ALR lands (Reference: as above). Regional Districts may “opt-in” to this new regulation by resolution submitted to the Minister of Housing by March 31st.
For more than 5 years, Naramata residents have been calling upon the RDOS to address short-term rental (STR) regulations. The call for change to STR regulations came from the Community at large, including many local businesses, and was formalized as far back as 2020 when Community Groups asked the RDOS for “solutions to provide balance between maintaining enough housing stock to preserve a healthy long term community population and workforce”. Nothing has yet been done.
According to the draft Official Community Plan (OCP), the most recent census data reports the total population of the Electoral Area “E” is 2015 people, an increase of only 19 residents between 2001 and 2021. However, there have been more than 257 new lots and homes approved, during this time period. Another key factor is that over 40% of properties, new and existing, are not owned by local residents – the owners are not primary residents so they are not included in the population count for Area “E”; many of these properties are operating as vacation rentals.
Over the past 10-15 years a business model of acquiring residentially zoned property and
operating it as a “vacation rental” has become increasingly prevalent in Naramata. This has created various problems and gives an unfair advantage to the residential property owner. One problem is taxation - a residentially zoned property pays a residential tax payment even if it is operating on a completely commercial business model – frequently without a primary resident present. This puts equivalently zoned commercial properties at a significant tax disadvantage. A second problem is the negative impact on long term housing stock STRs are having on Naramata. Short Term Rentals are now occupying homes or suites that might otherwise be rented out to long term tenants wanting to live and work in the community.
“Whole house short term rentals have displaced long term residents who live, work and participate in our community. These are people that work in the store, work on our farms and in our wineries, have children who go to our school, who participate in and contribute to our community groups. We have direct experience in losing long term staff to Summerland after they could no longer find rental housing in Naramata … they moved to a Summerland property [for employment] when Summerland enacted the bylaw that required a long-term residents [to be] onsite.” Miranda Halladay, Elephant Island Winery & Citta Slow Naramata
The OCP Review Advisory Committee heard innumerable concerns with (non-BnB) short term vacation rentals. There was considerable concern regarding STRs impact on long term rentals, on rentals without a full-time resident on-site, and on properties that were renting out more than one suite or dwelling. The OCP Review Advisory Committee submitted various recommendations to the RDOS and was unanimous in their call for an on-site resident and a reining in of non-primary residences marketing various short term vacation rentals on their property.
Naramata’s charm and location has long made it an attractive summer destination. It has a robust agriculture, winery, and tourism economic base. One of the biggest challenges for these business operators is the lack of available and affordable housing. Naramata has forever been home to second residences but in its more recent history it has struggled with an increasing and disproportionate number of short-term vacation rentals.
The BC Government has provided new legislation to help us create a balanced solution. We have asked the RDOS and our Area E Director, Adrienne Fedrigo, to bring a resolution to the RDOS Board of Directors to ‘opt in’ to the new legislation. We are asking all Naramata residents who are in support of this to demonstrate their support. A petition is being circulated now and may be found here. (Interestingly, this is the second time a petition on this topic was circulated – in 2022 over 800 people signed).
