I own a condo in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, a city that is making it increasingly difficult to operate an Airbnb. Aside from higher costs for the mandatory Business License are a number of requirements that have forced a change my business model.
Chief among these are condo boards disallowing Airbnb rentals. Without board endorsement, I can’t secure the necessary Business Licence which means the end to third-party rentals.
I invested a ton of time to find a way to stay in business (at least in Alberta) and discovered the following:
-City Business Licences and corresponding Occupancy Taxes are ONLY applicable to short-term rentals defined as 30 days or less.
- Occupancy Taxes are collected at the provincial level and assumes that the accommodation type is mixed (all stay length durations) or short-term (30 days or less).
- Condo boards have successfully defended its legal position to refuse short-term rentals.
- Any stay that exceeds 30 days is considered LONG-TERM and moves beyond the jurisdiction of city and provincial ordinances .
- In other words, no Business License is needed, no Occupancy Tax is required, and Condo Boards can’t restrict this type of rental because this particular rental type right is protected at a federal level.
- As an owner, I have chosen to rent only on a long-term basis (a month minimum). And have changed my settings to accommodate this approach.
Problem: It seems Airbnb hasn’t either fully investigated this reality or hasn’t promoted it as a viable option to being closed down by governments.
