Important change for Prince George residents with rentals and rental suites

If you live in Prince George and have a rental property or rent out a portion of your home you will be required to purchase a business license starting in the new year. It was an interesting move by city council last week and it will be even more interesting to see how it pans out.

Many feel that the reason why this was implemented was to increase revenue for the business license program, however an increase to the fee for businesses may have had a lesser impact than the new rental requirements. In this CKPG news report they have stated that "the city feels the need for a license will ensure that rental properties are up to code and not illegal. The business license fee for rental properties will be $155 per year, per property."

Although most homes in Prince George are zoned to allow a rental suite, the majority of them don't currently comply with the requirements to make them "legal".

Here is an article from the City of Prince George detailing their requirements for secondary suites. Some key points are:

·         The property must be zoned accordingly

·         They can only be built in a single family dwelling and by exception in a manufactured home

·         The owner of the property must live on site

·         Only one suite is permitted and it cannot exceed the lesser of 75 m2 or 40% of the total floor area

·         An additional parking space is required

·         A building permit is required to add a suite

·         A permit application (and $50 fee) is required to legalize an existing suite

 

The building code requirements along with the pre-application are included in the above article. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

http://www.christinbuemann.com