On November 24, 2022, Bill 44, the Building and Strata Statutes Amendment Act was enacted which removed nearly all rental and age restrictions in strata buildings within British Columbia.

Rental Restrictions

The Bill repeals any provision of the Strata Property Act which allows for strata corporations to create bylaws related to restricting or prohibiting rental. 

Before Bill 44, a strata corporation could:

1. Prohibit the rental of residential strata lots

2. Limit the number or percentage of residential strata lots that may be rented

3. Set a minimum period for which residential strata lots may be rented

As of November 24th, strata corporations are no longer able to do any of the above, with one exception.

Strata corporations are still able to prohibit short-term rentals of less than 30 days. So if you live in a building that does not allow for Airbnb, your strata’s ability to restrict rentals less than 30 days, is still enforceable.

Age Restrictions 

With the new changes, strata corporations are also no longer able to place age restrictions on residents in buildings, other than 55+ age restrictions.

The exception of 55+ age restrictions have also been extended to include caregivers who reside in the strata lot for caregiving, or people residing in a strata lot before the restriction occurred.

In Summary:

• Bylaws that prohibit or restrict (by number or %) the rental of strata lots are no longer enforceable. All strata lots can now be rented out.

• Prohibitions on short-term accommodations (less than 30 days) are still allowed and enforceable.

• Bylaws restricting the age of a person who may reside in a strata lot for under 55 years old are no longer enforceable.

• Strata corporations have no obligation to update their current bylaws to adopt these amendments, but should note that some of their bylaws will no longer be enforceable.

These changes will impact both the rental market and housing market in all of British Columbia, and specifically Vancouver.

Overall, the public seems happy with these amendments since this will allow for more units to be available for rent in a market that is already suffering from high rental prices and low vacancy rates.

On the other hand, this may not be good news for strata corporations or residents who would like to continue restricting rentals and age in their building.

If you have any questions about how Bill 44 impacts you, feel free to reach out

Denisse Moran Z

778-223-6399