Providing opportunity while striking a balance to protect rental housing and neighbourhoods
Anyone who wishes to operate a short-term rental in Burnaby must obtain a business licence.
The licensing system is designed to protect long-term housing stock in our community and minimize disruption to residential neighbourhoods, while providing homeowners with the opportunity to earn extra income by renting their principal residence.
What is a short-term rental?
Short-term rentals are units homeowners can rent out for a maximum of 90 days per calendar year. These include vacation rentals listed on online platforms such as Airbnb® and Vrbo®. Anyone who wishes to operate a short-term rental in Burnaby must first obtain a business licence.
Where are short-term rentals restricted in Burnaby?
The City’s approach to managing short-term rentals is designed to allow homeowners to utilize the home they live in as a short-term rental, while ensuring that these rentals do not affect Burnaby’s long-term rental housing stock.
Our framework prohibits short-term rentals in the following types of properties:
- rental units
- secondary suites (legal suites located within a home) and homes which contain secondary suites
- accessory buildings such as a garage or laneway home
- group homes
- units with home-based occupation or childcare facilities
For more information on how to safely operate a short-term rental in Burnaby, download our guide below.
How to obtain a business licence for your short-term rental
For information on how to apply for a short-term licence, visit our business licence webpage.
Compliance
The City takes an active approach to enforcement of short-term rental regulations. Operators may face fines of up to $500 per infraction, with escalating fines for continued non-compliance.
Fines may be issued for violations including:
- failure to obtain a valid business licence
- operating a short-term rental on property that is not the operator’s principal residence
- failure to provide information to guests
- failure to attend
- failure to maintain records
- failure to post fire safety plan
Questions and answers
A principal residence is a dwelling unit where the occupants make their home, conduct their daily affairs (i.e. paying bills, receiving mail, etc.), and use the address on documentation related to billing, identification, taxation and insurance purposes.
Up to four unrelated guests, or six people within the same family, are permitted to stay in a short-term rental property.
Burnaby’s guest limit is designed to allow families to utilize short-term rentals, while limiting the likelihood of disruptions to the neighbourhood resulting from a short-term rental with too many guests.
This restriction provides an opportunity for homeowners to earn income by temporarily renting out a portion of their principal residence while they are present to host their visitors. Additionally, it allows homeowners to temporarily rent out their entire principal residence for up to 28 nights per year while they are absent, reducing the impacts of short-term rentals on the surrounding neighbourhood.
No. Short-term rental licences will only be granted to applicants who are applying to list their principal residence as a short-term rental. This reduces the potential impact of short-term rentals on the long-term rental supply and reduces the chance of potential disruptions to the neighbourhood.
The secondary suites program in Burnaby was designed to increase the supply of affordable rental housing in the community. The City wants to ensure this supply of housing is available for long-term renters.
Only homeowners are permitted to operate short-term rentals within their principal residence. Tenants, even with the landlord's permission, are not permitted to operate short-term rentals nor eligible to obtain a business licence for this use.
You must have a business licence. In order to obtain a business licence, operators will have to:
- Submit an application form along with mandatory documentation (proof of principal residence, and where applicable a letter of permission from strata).
- Pay a business licence fee.
- Agree to conform to the short-term rental regulations and all City bylaws.
- Operators will be provided with information about responsible short-term rental operations when they receive their business licence.
Operators must comply with the requirements outlined in the Short-Term Rental Operators Guidebook, which includes reviewing and distributing the following information:
- Guest guidelines that will inform guests about relevant City bylaws (e.g. quiet hours, parking restrictions, garbage and recycling information and schedules, etc.).
- Fire safety information, including a fire plan.
- Neighbour notification form to distribute to neighbours with important contact information.
Please visit our business licence webpage.
Yes, short-term rentals are allowed in strata units. Homeowners who wish to list their principal residence that is within a strata as a short-term rental must submit a letter of permission from the strata council along with their application for a business licence.
For noise concerns:
During the day:
Burnaby Licence Office: 604-294-7320
Monday-Friday, 8 am-4:45 pm
After office hours:
Burnaby Dispatch: 604-294-7200
For Parking Bylaw Enforcement:
Phone: 604-294-7944
Monday-Friday, 7 am-6 pm
Phone: 604-570-3660
Saturday-Sunday: 8:30 am-4:30 pm
(Contact RCMP at 604-646-9999 outside these hours)
Please contact the Licence Office at 604-294-7320 or [email protected].