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Long-term rental business licence

To rent a residential property you own for 30 days or more at a time, you need a rental property business licence. Even if you hire a property manager.

On this page

  1. Properties you can rent
  2. Fees and how to pay
  3. Applying for a licence
  4. Before we issue your licence
  5. Contact us

Related business licences

Properties you can rent

You can rent the following:

  • One-family dwelling
  • Laneway house
  • Secondary suite
  • Duplex
  • Apartment house
  • Residential/commercial building
  • Multiple conversion dwelling
  • Rooming house
    • If you have 1 or 2 tenants living with you in your house, such as exchange students, you don't need a business licence
    • If you have 3 or more tenants in your house, you need a general business licence

One-family dwelling

Main building on a property with one dwelling unit

Laneway house

Separate dwelling unit in the rear yard of a property with an existing one-family dwelling

Secondary suite

Separate dwelling unit within a building that has a one-family dwelling, only smaller

Duplex

Building with two dwelling units

Apartment house

Building, possibly a strata, with three or more dwelling units

Residential/commercial building

Building with commercial space on the main floor and dwelling units on the second floor

Multiple conversion dwelling

Building converted to have a combination of two or more sleeping units, housekeeping units, or dwelling units

Rooming house

Building with sleeping units

Dwelling unit

Separate unit equipped to sleep, sit, and cook, with its own bathroom

Housekeeping unit

Separate unit equipped to sleep, sit, and cook, with a shared bathroom

Sleeping unit

Separate unit equipped to sleep and sit, with a shared bathroom

Fees and how to pay

Application fee for new business licence

  • $56
  • Non-refundable fee

Licence fee

  • $34 to 71 per unit (except the unit occupied by the owner) based on the type of property and unit
  • Annual fee
  • Licence expires each year on December 31
  • Fee is prorated in your first year based on when you start business
Type of rental property Type of unit Annual fee
One-family dwelling,
Laneway house,
Secondary suite,
Duplex, and
Residential/commercial building		 Dwelling unit $69
Apartment house Dwelling unit $71
Multiple conversion dwelling Dwelling unit $69
Multiple conversion dwelling Housekeeping unit $51
Multiple conversion dwelling Sleeping unit $34
Rooming house Sleeping unit $34

For the official fees, refer to the Business Licence Fees in Schedules A and B of the License Bylaw PDF file (380 KB).

How to pay

Pay by:

  • Cash
  • Cheque or money order (made payable to the City of Vancouver)
  • Debit card
  • Credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express)

Note We don't accept credit card cheques.

Applying for a licence

  1. Complete the rental property application PDF file (110 KB).
  2. Gather the following documents, based on who applies and your business structure.

    As a business owner, you need:

    1. Copy of your current, government-issued photo ID

    As a representative applying for the licence, you need:

    1. Copy of the business owner's current, government-issued photo ID
    2. Copy of your own current, government-issued photo ID
    3. Letter of authorization from the business owner PDF file (60 KB)

    As a limited or incorporated business, you need:

    1. Copy of the business owner's current, government-issued photo ID
    2. Provincial or extra-provincial certificate of incorporation issued by the BC Corporate Registry (A federal certificate of incorporation issued by Industry Canada won't be accepted)
    3. Notice of Articles showing your company's list of directors
  3. Apply in person or by mail with your application, required documents, and fee payment to the address below.

Before we issue your licence

Buildings built before 1956

Because our records may not include the number of dwelling units in your building:

  1. We need to inspect the building to confirm the number of dwelling units.
  2. You need to provide a floor plan.

Contact us about business licences

Location and mailing address 
Development and Building Services Centre
Ground floor
515 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 4A8

Phone 
3-1-1
(604-873-7000 outside Vancouver)

Hours 
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
8:30am to 4:30pm

Tuesday, Thursday
8:30am to 4:00pm

See when your queue number is called

Free 2-hour parking 
West 10th Ave parking lot,
between Cambie and Yukon

licenceoffice@vancouver.ca