Airbnb has “proactively removed” over 130 Vancouver listings from its platform, a move which comes less than a month after the city council announced a crackdown on short-term rentals.
Airbnb spokesperson Alex Dagg said in a statement that the company believed the removed listings were “commercial operators” who do not meet the standards and priorities of the Airbnb community, or the guest experience it wants to provide.
Dagg added: “We believe we can partner with the city to develop fair, easy-to-follow home-sharing regulations that address key priorities for the city, including any unwelcome commercial operators.”
The home-sharing platform has been under scrutiny in various Canadian cities and there have been increasing calls for regulation in recent months.
Just last month a report found that the service was damaging the rental market in Victoria by taking hundreds of properties out of the pool.
Airbnb lists between 80 and 90% of all the short-term accommodation available in Vancouver, Geoff Meggs, Vancouver city councillor told
CBC News.
Meggs said that while he’s glad Airbnb is being proactive, there is no way to know if removed properties will end up appearing on other short-term rental sites such as VRBO Vacation Rentals or Craigslist, stressing that consistent regulation is needed.
“We need regulation to get everyone playing by the same rules,” he said. “We don’t want to play ‘whack-a-mole’ with the listings.”
One of Vancouver city staff’s recommendations in October was to introduce a new rental permit licence requirement to properties that want to be listed on home-sharing sites, partly because many Airbnb listings are in locations where zoning explicitly prohibits rentals of less than one month, the report said.
Last month, the City of Vancouver took its battle with Airbnb to the B.C. Supreme Court, claiming that Vancouver’s zoning bylaw – which prohibits the rental of a home or apartment for a period of less than one month unless it’s part of a hotel or bed and breakfast – meant an apartment listed in Fairview Slopes should be shut down.
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