New short-term rental (STR) rules will come into effect in Calgary on April 1, and with it a desire to stay ahead of an evolving market, according to the City.

The rules were approved at Calgary city council in mid-December 2024, and after an amendment at that time, the date of implementation was bumped back to April 1, 2025, instead of January 1. That was intended to give potential operators time to adjust to the regulations.

There were six amendments to the city’s business licence bylaw governing short-term rentals. Among them are licensing based on it being a primary or non-primary residence, with the latter licence costing significantly more ($510 versus $172).

There would also be a moratorium on new short-term rental licences in non-primary residences only if the purpose-built rental vacancy rate in Calgary drops below 2.5 per cent. It’s currently at 4.8 per cent, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The last time it was below 2.5 per cent was in 2023.

STR digital rental platforms will be subject to an annual $3,000 licence fee and be required to work collaboratively with the City on ongoing changes to the bylaw.  Condo board consent will no longer be required to get an STR licence, and licences will not be issued for homes that are designated as affordable housing.

The new rules also cover a gap between 30 days (short-term rental) and 180 days (tenancy under provincial laws), referred to as a medium-term stay.

Melanie Bishoff, acting manager of business experience with the City of Calgary, said that she expected the most impact to come in licensing for the medium-term stays.

“As we know at the city, short-term rentals have been growing and evolving. The definition change of that up to 180 days allows us to stay ahead of the market,” she said.

“That way, we can sort of identify trends and changes that may be needed going forward.”

Worry over supply

In response to last December’s decision, Airbnb’s policy lead in Canada believed the changes would have a massive impact on the local STR market and the economy overall.

“These considerations will have huge impacts on the tourism and hospitality sector,” Alex Howell told LWC at the time.

“Airbnb drove about $1.1 billion in economic impact and 11,000 jobs across Alberta last year. More than half of that’s in Calgary. It’s more than just posting to the platform. That’s impact to restaurants, retail and other tourist-related industries.”

Howell said that there’s no evidence that people are using mid-term rentals (between 30 and 180 days) to avoid existing tenant regulations, or that they are less regulated.

“Setting a definition of something like 180 days, generally, what we see is it drives hosts underground,” Howell said.

“That means there’s fewer safety protections, there’s no insurance, there’s no fraud protection. All of those are things that you get through a legitimate platform.”

Howell said they’ve seen examples where more stringent STR rules have limited the tourism economy, specifically in parts of BC, where she said that some areas saw a drop of between 50 to 70 per cent. She said business leaders referred to BC’s strict STR rules as a driver behind that.

On the other hand, during Calgary’s debate over citywide rezoning, many in the public suggested that STRs were impacting the housing market and, therefore, limiting people’s spaces to live.

According to research done by the University of Calgary in partnership with the City of Calgary, there’s mixed evidence suggesting that’s the case. At any one time, the research shows that there are roughly 400 always-active STR listings in Calgary. 

“A moratorium on new licenses isn’t necessarily going to get rid of those 400 or so listings because they’re already listed,” said Dr. Gillian Petit, one of the researchers.

“It’ll get rid of new listings that might look like that or at least pause until the vacancy rate comes up.”

The lead-up to the STR rule change implementation

Bishoff said they expect to see a flurry of licence applications after the new rules are in place. They’ve already seen a rush of activity in the lead-up.

“What’s been interesting is, in the last month, we received approximately 100… applications that are now licensed. So, we actually saw a push before April 1 in the last month or so,” she said.

Those licensed in the lead up to new rules will be bound by the updated bylaw amendments, as will STRs that were coming up for renewal, Bishoff said.

Bishoff said the City of Calgary is hoping to walk the fine line between providing important accommodations and ensuring they’re protecting the city’s housing supply, both today and into the future.

 “It’s kind of striking the balance for the city, to do our best to launch the housing strategy that the city has,” she said.

For anyone wanting more information on the new rules, they can visit the City of Calgary’s website, Bishoff said. There, potential licensees can find a map of all of the licensed STRs, plus a good host guide and a good guest guide.

“It’s definitely new resources people can use, especially if they’re looking to apply for a new or renewal,” she said.

“Also, in terms of the resources, they’ve been revamped to allow for further changes going forward.”

The rules were approved unanimously back in December, with most feeling as though the right balance was struck.

“I really appreciate that it’s actually going to be someone’s explicit job to monitor short-term rentals and look at the data within city administration as part of this,” Coun. Jasmine Mian said during the December debate.  

“I think that really goes a long way in responding to constituent concerns about short-term rentals, but not over-regulating them, which I think is often what has happened, because people are rightfully concerned about the housing market.

“I’m really happy with where this landed.”