The honest answer for 2026, and what to do if it turns out to be no. A plain-language guide to short-term rental rules across Whistler, Squamish, and Pemberton.
Written for owners by a licensed rental property manager. This is an overview, not legal advice. Zoning and licensing are specific to each property and the rules change, so confirm your own situation with the municipality and the Province.
For most Whistler homes, no, not legally, unless the property is zoned for tourist accommodation and holds a Whistler business licence. In Squamish and Pemberton, a nightly rental generally has to be your principal residence. If your property does not clear those bars, the legal path is a long-term or seasonal rental of 30 days or more.
People assume the Sea-to-Sky follows a single short-term rental law. It does not. Whistler, Squamish, and Pemberton each land in a different spot, and the difference decides whether nightly rentals are even on the table for your property.
| Whistler | Squamish | Pemberton | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provincial principal-residence rule | Does not apply | Applies | Applies |
| Nightly rental on an investment property | Only if zoned for tourist accommodation and licensed | Generally must be your principal residence | Generally must be your principal residence |
| What actually decides it | Your property's zoning | Whether you live there | Whether you live there |
| If you cannot | Long-term or seasonal, 30+ days | Long-term or seasonal, 30+ days | Long-term or seasonal, 30+ days |
The provincial exempt list is reviewed every year, and local zoning is specific to each lot. Treat the table as orientation, then confirm your own property before you list anything.
Whistler is exempt from the province's principal-residence requirement as a mountain resort community, so the rule that limits short-term rentals to where you live does not apply here. That is where a lot of owners stop reading, and it is the wrong place to stop.
Whistler runs its own regime, and it is stricter in the way that matters. Nightly, tourist-style rental is only permitted in properties zoned for tourist accommodation. In the municipality's words, tourist accommodation is not allowed in any residential-zoned area, where residential means a fixed place of living a person intends to return to. If your property is residential-zoned, it cannot be rented nightly, no matter who owns it.
On top of zoning, Whistler has required a business licence for tourist accommodation since 2017. Renting nightly without one is an illegal rental, and the municipality can fine it up to $3,000 per day. Your licence number, and your provincial registration number, have to appear on the listing, or the platform is required to take it down.
Both towns sit on the provincial list where the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act principal-residence requirement is in force. In practice that means a short-term rental has to be your principal residence, plus at most one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit on the same property. You cannot take a separate investment property and run it as a nightly rental.
So the deciding question flips. In Whistler it is "how is the property zoned." In Squamish and Pemberton it is "do you actually live there." Because the provincial list is reviewed each year and can change, confirm your specific address on the Province's short-term rental map before you assume either way.
Wherever the property is, a legal short-term rental has to clear all of these. Miss one and the listing is not compliant.
For most owners in the corridor, the honest answer is that nightly rental is not available for their property. That is not a dead end. A long-term or seasonal rental of 30 days or more is legal everywhere in Whistler, Squamish, and Pemberton, sits under the Residential Tenancy Act rather than the short-term rules, and does not need a tourist-accommodation zone or a nightly licence.
It is also the part I manage. If you want to know what your property would realistically earn as a long-term or seasonal rental, that is what a free rental assessment answers. You can also read how full-service management and seasonal rentals actually work.
Only if the property is specifically zoned for tourist accommodation and you hold a Whistler business licence. Most homes in residential-zoned areas cannot be rented nightly, regardless of who owns them, and renting without a licence can draw fines of up to $3,000 per day.
No. Whistler is exempt from the provincial principal-residence requirement as a mountain resort community. That does not mean nightly rentals are open, though. Whistler's own zoning and business-licence rules still decide whether a given property can be rented short-term.
Generally only if it is your principal residence. Squamish and Pemberton are on the provincial list where the principal-residence requirement applies, so a separate investment property usually cannot be run as a nightly rental. The provincial list can change year to year, so confirm your specific property on the Province's short-term rental map.
Whistler can fine an unlicensed short-term rental up to $3,000 per day, and provincial penalties under the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act can reach $50,000. Platforms are also required to remove listings that do not show a valid licence and provincial registration number.
A long-term or seasonal rental of 30 days or more is fully legal across Whistler, Squamish, and Pemberton, and it is far simpler to run. That is the path a licensed rental property manager can handle for you, from pricing and placement to the tenancy itself.
A free rental assessment gives you a straight answer on what your property can legally do, and what it would earn as a long-term or seasonal rental. No cost, no obligation.
Request a free assessment →