Short answer: yes. Invermere is exempt from British Columbia's principal residence requirement, so a property here does not have to be your home in order to be rented short term. But you need provincial registration, a District of Invermere business licence, and — in most residential neighbourhoods — a Temporary Use Permit. Here is the whole picture.

Three layers of rules, not one

Almost every mistake owners make here comes from treating short-term rental regulation as a single approval. It is three separate systems, each with its own application, its own renewal date and its own way of going wrong:

• The Province of British Columbia — registration in the provincial STR registry

• The District of Invermere — a business licence, and usually a Temporary Use Permit

• Your strata or building — bylaws that can prohibit short-term renting outright, regardless of the other two

Satisfying two of the three still means you cannot legally operate. We have seen owners complete provincial registration and a District licence, then discover their strata banned short-term rentals years earlier.

Layer one: the Province

The principal residence rule — and why Invermere escapes it

BC's Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act restricts short-term rentals to a host's principal residence, plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit. In the communities where it applies, that ended whole-home short-term renting for anyone who does not live in the property.

Invermere is exempt, because the requirement applies only to communities above a population threshold and Invermere sits below it. This is the single most important fact for anyone weighing up an investment property here, and it is routinely missed by owners who read national coverage of the rule and assume it applies everywhere in BC.

The caveat: communities under the threshold may choose to opt in. Invermere has not. That is a council decision and could change, so if you are buying specifically to rent, treat it as a live risk rather than a settled one.

Registration is still mandatory

The exemption is from the principal residence rule only. Every individual host must register with the Province, including hosts operating in exempt communities. Registration is annual:

• Around $100 per year where the host lives on site

• Around $450 per year where the host does not live on site — the usual case for an Invermere investment property

Your registration number has to appear on your listings. Platforms are required to validate it, so an unregistered listing does not simply carry on quietly.

Layer two: the District of Invermere

A business licence, since May 2024

Every short-term rental operator in Invermere has needed a District business licence since May 2024. It renews annually. This is separate from, and in addition to, provincial registration.

A Temporary Use Permit, if you are in a residential zone

If your property sits in a zone that does not already permit short-term rental use — which covers most single-family residential neighbourhoods — you also need a Temporary Use Permit. A TUP is valid for up to three years, and can be renewed for a further term of up to three years subject to District approval.

A TUP application asks for more than a form. You will need:

• The completed application form

• Proof of ownership, or a lease agreement

• A floor plan marking the bedrooms

• A parking plan showing dedicated off-street stalls

• Proof that a noise monitoring system is installed

• Any certificates or licences required provincially or federally

The parking and noise-monitoring conditions are the two that catch people. A property without dedicated off-street parking has a genuine problem, and noise monitoring is a physical install, not a policy statement.

Your permit becomes public

The District publishes a register of active short-term rental permits — more than eighty of them — listing the address, the business licence number, the approved occupancy limit and the expiry date. Approved occupancies in that register run from two to twelve.

Two consequences worth understanding. Your occupancy limit is a matter of public record, so advertising more guests than you are permitted is trivially checkable. And there is a 24-hour complaint line — 1-778-601-9306 — plus an online portal, so neighbour complaints route straight to the District rather than to you.

Layer three: strata and building rules

A strata corporation can prohibit short-term rentals through its own bylaws, and that prohibition stands whatever the Province and District say. Buildings also commonly impose rules on parking allocation, waste, noise hours and use of shared amenities like pools and gyms.

If you are buying, read the strata bylaws and recent minutes before you commit — not after. A bylaw amendment passed at an AGM can end a rental business that was working perfectly the month before.

The renewal calendar is where compliance actually fails

Nothing here is difficult in isolation. What catches owners is that the dates never line up: provincial registration renews annually, the District business licence renews annually on its own cycle, a TUP runs up to three years, and insurance renews on a fourth date entirely.

Miss one and you are operating unlicensed — usually without realising, because nothing stops working. It surfaces at the worst moment: a complaint, an insurance claim, or a platform audit.

Insurance is not a formality

A standard homeowner policy generally does not cover short-term rental use, and platform guarantees are not insurance. Airbnb's AirCover is not a substitute for a policy written for commercial short-term rental use. If you have not had your coverage reviewed specifically for STR use, assume you have a gap.

Common questions

Do I need a TUP if my property is already zoned for it?

No. A TUP exists to permit a use the zoning does not already allow. If your zone permits short-term rental use, the business licence and provincial registration are enough.

Can I run a short-term rental in Invermere if I live in Calgary?

Yes — that is precisely what the exemption from the principal residence requirement allows, and it is why Invermere remains workable for investment owners when much of BC no longer is.

What happens if the District opts in later?

The principal residence requirement would apply, and a property that is not your home could no longer be rented short term. There is no way to insure against that beyond watching council decisions — which is one reason to work with someone local.

How many guests can I take?

Whatever your permit says. Occupancy is set per property and published in the District's register, and across current permits it ranges from two to twelve.

Where we come in

We track these renewals for the owners we manage, because each runs on its own clock and the failure mode is silent. We also translate the rules into the guest-facing instructions that actually keep you compliant — quiet hours, parking allocation, occupancy — which is where most complaints originate.

If you want a straight answer about a specific address, send it to us. We will tell you whether it works, and we will tell you if it does not.

This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Rules change, and fee amounts should be confirmed with the Province and the District before you act on them.