Strata Rental Bylaws After Bill 44 (2024): What Changed

If your BC strata still has a rental ban, a rental cap, or an "owner-occupancy first" requirement in its bylaws, those bylaws stopped being enforceable on November 24, 2022. Bill 44, passed by the BC legislature in fall 2022, rewrote the rental-restriction sections of the Strata Property Act and effectively ended the era of long-term rental bans in BC strata buildings. Years later, we still get questions from councils, owners, and buyers who haven't fully absorbed the change. The strata rental bylaws BC Bill 44 picture is clearer than people think once you separate long-term rentals (now unrestricted) from short-term rentals (still restrictable) and age restrictions (only 55+ now allowed).

What Bill 44 actually changed

Bill 44, the Building and Strata Statutes Amendment Act, 2022, made three big changes to the Strata Property Act:

1. Rental restrictions became unenforceable. Bylaws limiting the number of units that may be rented (rental caps) or banning rentals outright are no longer enforceable. SPA s. 141 was repealed.
2. Age restrictions were narrowed to 55+. Stratas can still set a minimum-age requirement, but only at 55 or higher. Bylaws requiring residents to be 19+, 30+, or 40+ are unenforceable. SPA s. 144 was rewritten.
3. Hardship exemptions disappeared for long-term rentals. Because rental bans are now unenforceable, the old "hardship exemption" application process under s. 144 (old version) is no longer needed for renting.

The effective date was November 24, 2022, and the change was retroactive, there is no grandfathering of existing rental-ban bylaws. A bylaw that was valid on November 23, 2022 became unenforceable on November 24.

What's still allowed after Bill 44

Bill 44 did not deregulate strata rentals entirely. Several restrictions remain valid and enforceable:

• Short-term rental bylaws. Bylaws restricting or banning rentals under 90 days (Airbnb, VRBO, vacation rentals) are still valid. Bill 44 only addressed long-term rentals.
• 55+ age restrictions. A strata can still pass or maintain a bylaw requiring residents to be 55 or older. Below 55 is no longer permitted.
• Live-in caregiver exception. Even in 55+ buildings, a younger live-in caregiver for a resident is permitted by statute.
• General bylaws applied to tenants. Noise, parking, pet, smoking, and occupancy bylaws apply to tenants the same as owners. Stratas can still enforce these via SPA s. 129–135.
• Form K compliance. Owners renting out units must still deliver a signed Form K within two weeks of tenancy start under SPA s. 146.
• Move-in/out fees. Up to $200 per move is allowed under the Strata Property Regulation, and the fee applies equally to owners and tenants.

What changed is the categorical ban on rentals or the quota on how many units may be rented. Those tools are gone.

Why the province made the change

The policy context matters because it tells you where the law is heading. BC has a housing supply crisis, and strata bylaws restricting rentals were removing potential rental units from the market in Metro Vancouver, Victoria, and resort communities like Whistler. The province expected Bill 44 to unlock additional rental supply as old bylaws cleared out of practice.

Bill 44 was paired with Bill 35 (the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act), passed in fall 2023, which addressed the short-term rental market separately, leaving stratas with authority to regulate STRs at the building level. The two bills together create the current framework: long-term rentals are deregulated; short-term rentals are regulated by both the province and the strata.

What councils should do now

If your strata still carries old rental-restriction bylaws on the books, we recommend a four-step cleanup:

1. Identify which bylaws are now unenforceable. Long-term rental bans, rental caps, owner-occupancy periods, hardship-application requirements, and age restrictions below 55.
2. Pass a repeal resolution at the next AGM. A bylaw amendment requires a 3/4 vote under SPA s. 128. The resolution should explicitly identify each bylaw being repealed.
3. File the amended bylaws at the Land Title Office. Required under SPA s. 128(2) for the amendment to be effective.
4. Update the disclosure documents. Form B Information Certificates and bylaws packages sold to buyers should reflect the current, enforceable bylaws.

This is housekeeping, not strategy. The bylaws are unenforceable whether you repeal them or not. But the cleanup matters for buyers' lawyers, mortgage lenders, and future councils who shouldn't have to re-litigate the question.

How tenant enforcement still works

Bill 44 did not weaken a strata's ability to enforce bylaws against tenants. The enforcement framework under SPA s. 129–135 applies equally to owners and tenants:

• Written notice of the alleged contravention
• Opportunity for the tenant (or owner) to respond
• A hearing if requested, under s. 135
• Fines up to the maximum set by the bylaws within the limits in the Strata Property Regulation
• Civil Resolution Tribunal application if non-compliance continues

The Form K signature confirms the tenant has the bylaws, which strengthens the strata's enforcement position. Post-Bill 44 CRT decisions have generally upheld enforcement against tenants where the strata followed the SPA notice-and-hearing process and the bylaws targeted conduct (noise, occupancy limits, short-term rentals) rather than rental status itself.

What hasn't changed: short-term rentals

A common misconception is that Bill 44 affected short-term rentals. It did not. Bylaws restricting or prohibiting short-term rentals, defined as rentals under 90 days for the provincial framework, remain valid and enforceable. Most BC stratas in resort areas like Whistler, Pemberton, and Squamish maintain STR bylaws, and Bill 35's provincial STR rules apply on top of those bylaws.

The interaction is layered:

• Strata bylaw can restrict or prohibit STRs at the building level
• Provincial Bill 35 rules (in effect since May 2024) require principal-residence registration in most areas and impose minimum-stay thresholds
• Municipal bylaw (Whistler, Vancouver, etc.) may add a third layer of licensing or zoning rules

For the full picture see our provincial STR rules pillar and the Whistler and Pemberton specifics.

Practical implications for owners

If you own a BC strata unit and previously couldn't rent it because of a strata rental ban, you can rent it now. The strata cannot block you. Practical steps:

1. Read the current bylaws to confirm any short-term restrictions (you may still be limited to 90+ day rentals if the strata bans STRs).
2. Prepare a Form K and bylaws package for your future tenant.
3. Update your insurance, most owner policies require disclosure of tenancy. See strata insurance for landlords.
4. Notify the strata of the tenant's contact information and provide the signed Form K within two weeks of move-in.

Our renting out your strata unit checklist walks through every step.

Practical implications for councils

For councils, Bill 44 means the rental conversation has shifted from whether to allow rentals to how to manage a building with more rental turnover. Practical adjustments:

• Tighten move-in/out scheduling and elevator booking procedures
• Maintain a current Form K log for every rental unit
• Update bylaws on noise, parking, common-area use to apply cleanly to short-term occupants
• Build a relationship with the strata manager to track owner contact updates as units change hands

The buildings that adapt fastest are the ones where council treats Bill 44 as a permanent rule change, not a temporary disruption. The councils we work with that have stopped fighting it, updated their bylaws, and rebuilt their procedures around the new reality tend to report that life got meaningfully easier. The rentals were going to happen anyway.

A note on legal challenges

There have been no successful legal challenges to Bill 44's retroactive effect, and the Civil Resolution Tribunal has consistently held that pre-2022 rental-ban bylaws are unenforceable as of November 24, 2022. Owners who tried to enforce old bans through their strata have lost at the CRT. Owners who tried to challenge Bill 44 as a constitutional matter have not found traction. The law is settled.

If your council, owner group, or co-owner is still arguing about whether Bill 44 applies, the short answer is: it does, retroactively, with no exceptions for buildings that "voted before the law passed." Get on with the cleanup and the updated procedures.

For help repealing dead-letter bylaws, drafting a clean rental-management process, or running the AGM resolution, our team handles this regularly for Sea-to-Sky stratas of every size.