Vancouver investor buying up properties to run illegal Airbnb hotels

By ThinkPol Staff

A Vancouver-based real estate investor is buying up properties in the city and turning them into illegal Airbnb hotels, even as the city grapples with a worsening housing crisis.

An internet detective uncovered how the woman, who moved to Canada from Taiwan according to her social media profile, has bought up at least four properties in the last three years and listed them on the popular short term rental platform^[1]https://www.airbnb.ca/s/homes?host_id=96465703.

In one instance, the investor listed a property on the 1700 block of West 62nd Avenue, which she bought in May 2017 for $4.93million ^[2]https://www.bcassessment.ca/Property/Info/QTAwMDAwMUNaTA==, without even bothering to take the SOLD label on the photos^[3]https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/23211200?s=urICPuSQ.

The internet detective, who wishes to maintain a low profile, identified three of the investor’s other listings as being houses she bought in the last three years.

The findings, which ThinkPol corroborated with the help of Land Titles and Survey Authority data, were first brought to our attention by Vancouver’s popular Airbnb fighting twitter account VISTRO^[4]https://twitter.com/VISTRO11.

“Speculators domestic and foreign are buying up homes that Canadians families could live in and turning them into Airbnb units,” VISTRO told ThinkPol. “Local families are forced to move further and further away from where they work, and ultimately, forced to live in vans and tents while Airbnb and Airbnb hosts rake in exorbitant profits.”

“The question we Vancouverites need to ask ourselves is simple,” VISTRO added. “Do you want a Vancouver where you children thrive? Or do you want our city to be a resort of the rich where you sons and daughters would need to trade sexual favours to put a roof over their heads?”

VISTRO blames the City of Vancouver for the state of affairs, but feels confident that Vancouverites are rising up against the Cupertino company.

“The City of Vancouver has failed us big time and we can no longer rely on them to protect us from this menace,” VISTRO added. “But the Occupy Airbnb movement that’s gaining momentum shows that we Vancouverites are ready and willing to fight for our children’s future by taking back our homes from these parasites.”

A bylaw passed by the Vancouver City Council to regulate short term rentals come into force on April 1, but Vancouverites are wary of being let down by the City once again^[5]http://vancouver.ca/doing-business/short-term-rentals.aspx.

“Whether the bylaws succeed will depend on enforcement,” Alec Smecher, a Vancouver father to a young daughter said. “I’m currently under-housed and keep a close eye on rentals in my neighbourhood, where there are more full-time AirBnB suites available than there are long-term rentals.”

“I’ll be satisfied with the bylaws if the city plans to enforce them. We know they chose not to enforce them before,” Smecher added. “This is the city’s opportunity to uphold its end of the social contract — and mean it, not just for the sake of the upcoming election.”