Debra Sheets is stunned the province is banning short-term rentals years after she bought four units in the Janion building in downtown Victoria to provide what she thought would be a solid foundation for a secure retirement.
The planned new rules are among several initiatives the province is bringing forward to help alleviate the ongoing housing shortage. Sheets said, similar to many other owners in the Janion, she is not a large corporation. “Most of us are small owners. We are not big organizations.”It is hard work running a short-term rental and is not as lucrative as some think, said Sheets. She’s struggled to make mortgage payments. “It’s not the money-grab that people think it is.”
Owners make a significant economic investment in the city through fees to the municipality and hiring services, she said.Victoria lawyer John Alexander, whose specializes in areas such as land-use law, local government and land title, said his phone is ringing non-stop from owners of short-term rentals, most of them Victoria residents.
When a municipality downzones a property that is being used, the owner is allowed to continue that use which is grandfathered . “That’s the flip side of the sections in the municipal act that says there’s no compensation for downzoning.”