A date has finally been set for the appeal of a B.C. Supreme Court decision upholding the municipality’s residential zoning bylaw and prohibiting short term rental of those homes.
The parties will appear in Vancouver at the B.C. Court of Appeal on May 28 at 10 a.m.
In 1999 the Resort Municipality of Whistler started 25 legal actions against owners of single family residential homes who were offering their places for short-term rental.
A pair of Prince George dentists were the first to go to court.
The dentists argued that most of the people who used their home were friends and co-workers, but admitted to renting it out nightly for periods of less than 28 days.
The municipality hopes the case would set a precedent it could use to bring other so called illegitimate operators into line.
The original case was heard on Feb 17, 2000, but it took B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Drost until Jan 15, 2001 to hand down his decision upholding the municipality’s position.
It has taken another year, until this week, for the appeal date to be set.
In a previous interview the lawyer for the dentists, Jonathan Baker, said he expects a decision to be handed down about a month after the appeal hearing.
