A Victoria business that provides hosting services for short-term rentals has signed on to be the representative party in a legal petition seeking to invalidate some of the provisions in the incoming provincewide restrictions on the units.
This essentially means many, if not all, of the units Amala provides hosting services for will become illegal under the new rules. Her business does the cleaning, client communication and other tasks for owners of units in a three block radius of her Pandora Street storefront in downtown Victoria. The suit is being brought by Amala in concert with a group called the West Coast Association for Property Rights, and the costs are being borne jointly by a group of property owners affected by the law. Because Amala is a business that hosts for about 100 short-term rentals, and Mason owns one unit herself, the group has filed the petition under her name.
So, the arguments are attempting to first establish that not allowing owners of units to do what they want with them is a violation of property rights, and failing that, arguing the owners of those units should be given compensation if their right to use them as they wish is taken away.