Version 1, April 24, 2024
These Terms of Use are an agreement between you, the user of the Short-Term Rental Data Portal (the “Portal”), and His Majesty the King in right of the Province of British Columbia, represented by the Minister of Housing (the “Province”) and govern your use of the Portal. By indicating that you agree to these Terms of Use and accessing the Portal, you agree to the following:
1. Authority to Accept Terms of Use
The individual accepting these Terms of Use on behalf of a platform service provider (as defined in section 1 of the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act) or a local government (as defined in section 1 of the Schedule to the Local Government Act) (each an “Entity”) represents and warrants that they have the authority to do so, and references to “You”, “you”, “Your” and “your” will be conclusively deemed to include the applicable Entity.
2. Your Obligations
You must:
(a) ensure that you have all necessary software, hardware and other equipment or services necessary for you to access and use the Portal;
(b) comply with all applicable laws in relation to your use of the Portal; and
(c) make every reasonable effort to ensure that all information you supply to the Portal, including in connection with the registration process, is complete and accurate.
3. Responsibility for Users
You are solely responsible for all individual users (each a “User”) who accesses the Portal on your behalf. You must ensure that all Users comply with these Terms of Use in relation to their use of the Portal.
4. Acceptable Use
You are solely responsible for your use, and your Users’ use, of the Portal. You must not:
(a) use the Portal for any unlawful or inappropriate purpose;
(b) tamper with the Portal;
(c) take any action in connection with the use of the Portal that would jeopardize the security, integrity and/or availability of the Portal or attempt to circumvent or subvert any security measure associated with the Portal;
(d) decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise copy any portion of the Portal or of any software associated with the Portal;
(e) use the Portal to transmit any virus or other harmful or destructive code, files or programs;
(f) take any action that might reasonably be construed as likely to adversely affect other users of the Portal; or
(g) remove or alter any proprietary symbol or notice, including any copyright notice, trademark or logo, displayed in connection with the Portal.
5. Submission of Data to Portal
As between you and the Province, you own any data, reports or other content that you are required or choose to submit to the Portal (collectively, “Your Data”). You grant the Province, in respect of Your Data, a non-exclusive and, subject to section 6 of these Terms of Use, perpetual and irrevocable license to exercise the rights set out in the Copyright Act (Canada), and to sublicense such rights to others, as necessary for:
(a) the operation or administration of the Portal;
(b) the administration or enforcement of the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act; and
(c) if you are a platform service provider, the support of the enforcement of short-term rental bylaws and related bylaws by local governments.
6. Removal of Your Data
If you are a local government, you may choose at any time to remove Your Data from the Portal, in which case the Province will use and retain Your Data only as required by applicable law.
7. Ownership of Portal and Content
With the exception of Your Data, the Portal and all services and information (collectively, “Content”) on the Portal is owned by the Province or its licensors. The Province grants you a non-exclusive, revocable license to access and use the Portal and the Content as necessary to allow you to meet applicable requirements of the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act and Short-Term Rental Accommodations Regulation and, as applicable, to allow you to use any optional features of the Portal.
8. No Warranty
The Portal and the Content are provided to you “as is”, and the Province disclaims all representations, warranties, conditions, obligations and liabilities of any kind, whether express or implied, in relation to the Portal and the Content, including without limitation implied warranties with respect to merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Without limiting the general nature of the previous sentence, the Province does not represent or warrant that:
(a) the Portal or the Content will be available;
(b) your use of the Portal or the Content will be timely or uninterrupted;
(c) the Portal or the Content will be error free; or
(d) the Portal or the Content will meet your expectations and requirements.
9. Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, under no circumstances will the Province be liable to you, to any other individual or to any entity for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential or other loss, claim, injury or damage, whether foreseeable or unforeseeable (including without limitation claims for damages for loss of profits or business opportunities, use or misuse of, or inability to use, the Portal or the Content, interruptions, deletion or corruption of files, loss of programs or information, errors, defects or delays) arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the Portal or the Content and whether based on contract, tort, strict liability or any other legal theory. The previous sentence will apply even if the Province has been specifically advised of the possibility of any such loss, claim, injury or damage.
10. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Province and the Province’s employees and agents from and against all claims, demands, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debts, and expenses (including but not limited to reasonable legal fees) arising from your violation of any provision of these Terms of Use.
11. Changes to Portal and/or Terms of Use
The Province may at any time, in its sole discretion and without direct notice to you, make changes to the Portal, any Content and/or these Terms of Use. By continuing to use the Portal, you will be conclusively deemed to have accepted any changes to these Terms of Use.
12. Account Deactivation
The Province may at any time, in its sole discretion, temporarily or permanently deactivate your or any User account:
(a) if you or any User fails to comply with any provision of these Terms of Use;
(b) as a security measure;
(c) for administrative purposes; or
(d) for any other reason in the Province’s sole discretion.
The right to access and use the Portal will automatically terminate upon account deactivation, although all applicable provisions of these Terms of Use will remain in full force and effect. The Province may, in its sole discretion, restore a deactivated account where the Province is satisfied that the reason for the deactivation has been resolved, in which case you may resume accessing and using the Portal.
13. Interpretation
In these Terms of Use:
(a) a reference to a statute means the statute of British Columbia by that name, as amended or replaced from time to time;
(b) the headings are inserted for convenience only and will not be used in interpreting or construing any provision of these Terms of Use;
(c) unless the context requires otherwise, words expressed in the singular include the plural and vice versa; and
(d) “including” is not intended to be limiting.
14. General
These Terms of Use are the entire agreement between you and the Province with respect to the Portal. If any provision of these Terms of Use is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision will be severed from these Terms of Use and all other provisions will remain in full force and effect. These Terms of Use will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of British Columbia and the applicable laws of Canada. By accepting these Terms of Use, you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the province of British Columbia, sitting in Victoria, for the hearing of any dispute arising from or related to these Terms of Use and their subject matter.