A Vancouver councillor wants to check out short-term rentals arranged online.

In a motion on notice included in council’s agenda Tuesday (April 5), Geoff Meggs suggested that several of these temporary rentals enabled by technologies like Airbnb, Vacation Rental by Owner, Tripping, and Roomorama may not be legal.

“It is probable that many of these units are being offered in violation of the Zoning and Development By-law with a negative impact on vacancy rates, building security and public safety considerations,” Meggs stated in his motion.

According to the three-term councillor, the City of Vancouver’s zoning and development bylaw “prohibits rentals for less than thirty days”, unless these are in approved zones for hotel, and bed and breakfast businesses.

Plus, these rentals have to be “accompanied by an appropriate City business licence”, Meggs noted.

“Enforcement of existing bylaws is complaint-driven and requires more evidence than a simple listing to prove a violation,” Meggs said.

He also cited third party estimates of more than 4,000 Airbnb listings in the city, which has a low rental vacancy rate.

Meggs motion seeks to direct city staff to report to council on work being done to study the issue of short-term rentals and their impact on housing.

The motion also seeks to order staff to “co-operation from AirBnB and other listing services, including detailed data on listings, to ensure an accurate assessment of the issue”.