BC banned that almost everywhere. Then on June 1, 2026, Kelowna became the first city in the province to opt out of the principal residence requirement. Not city wide. In exactly 25 buildings.
See all 25 buildings What do I qualify for?
BC's Short Term Rental Accommodation Act required your STR to be in your principal residence. That ended the buy and rent nightly model in most of the province.
Based on its rental vacancy rate, Kelowna got permission to drop that requirement. The City rezoned 25 addresses into a short term rental sub zone where nightly rental is a principal use.
The list is public but buried. Agents quote it from memory and get it wrong. Every building here is checked against the City's own list, with the date on the page.
Snapshot as of October 4, 2026. Confirm availability before relying on it.
Before you fall in love with a unit. Down payment, monthly carrying cost, and the income you need to show on two years of tax returns. It tells you which buildings are realistically in range, so you are not chasing something a lender will never approve.
I am not an agent who read about short term rentals. I own and operate them. Two on one property in Kelowna, another in Vancouver. I have done the licensing, the furnishing, the strata paperwork and the bad months. When I tell you a building's numbers work, it is because I run the same model myself.
Stuart Wallensteen, Personal Real Estate Corporation. Stonehaus Realty.
Book a 30 minute call 604-369-7304
Not in these 25 buildings. Kelowna removed the principal residence requirement for them effective June 1, 2026. Everywhere else in the city, you do.
Yes, and this is the trap. The City's zoning permission is separate from the strata's bylaws. Kelowna will not issue your licence without a signed strata consent form. I check the bylaws before my clients remove subjects.
$345 a year plus a $50 application fee, and you also register with the Province. Applications take two to four weeks.
If you are not living in it, 20 percent minimum. A rental you do not occupy cannot be mortgage insured, so 5 and 10 percent down are not available on that path. If you do live in it, normal owner occupier rules apply and 5 percent is possible.
Usually not at first. Most lenders want two years of it declared on your tax returns before they will use it. Plan to qualify on your own income on day one.
It can. That is why every building page on this site carries the date it was last verified against the City's own list, and I re-check quarterly.