Mid-Term Rentals in Calgary and Edmonton: Rules, Taxes and Who Books Them (2026)

A mid-term rental is a furnished home rented for one to six months at a time, usually to travel nurses, people relocating for work, and families waiting on an insurance repair. In Calgary, the short-term rental licence now covers stays of up to 180 consecutive days, so most mid-term rentals need one. In Edmonton, the short-term rental licence only covers stays of 30 consecutive days or less, so a stay of 31 nights or more sits outside it.

Below is what changes at 28, 30 and 180 nights, what the tax and tenancy rules mean for owners, who actually books these stays, and how to pair mid-term winters with short-term summers.

The short answer: what changes with the length of stay

Licence rules are the City of Calgary's and the City of Edmonton's as of November 2026. The tourism levy exemption applies when the same guest stays 28 or more consecutive nights. Your condo bylaws apply on top of all of this, at any length of stay.

What counts as a mid-term rental

Mid-term sits between Airbnb and a lease: furnished, with utilities and internet included, rented for roughly 30 to 180 nights. Guests arrive with a suitcase, not a moving truck.

It is the same home you would list on Airbnb, priced by the month instead of the night, with far fewer turnovers. One clean and one check-in can cover two or three months of income.

Calgary: the licence now covers stays up to 180 days

On April 1, 2025, Calgary changed its definition of a short-term rental to include stays of up to 180 consecutive days. Before that, the bylaw stopped at 30 days and longer furnished stays were outside it. Many guides online still quote the old 30 day rule.

In practice, a mid-term rental in Calgary needs the same licence as an Airbnb: $172 for a primary residence or $510 for a non-primary property, plus the annual fire inspection. If you already hold a licence for short stays, it covers your mid-term bookings too. The full process is in our Calgary short-term rental licence guide.

The City also stopped requiring condo board consent in 2025. That only changes what the City asks for: your condo's own bylaws can still restrict rentals shorter than a set length.

Edmonton: 30 days is the line

Edmonton's Residential Rental Accommodation (Short-Term) licence covers stays of 30 consecutive days or less. A stay of 31 nights or more is outside that licence, which makes Edmonton the simpler of the two cities for mid-term rentals.

If you mix both, short stays in summer and monthly stays in winter, keep the short-term licence active and your Operational Plan current. Fees and the Operational Plan are covered in Edmonton's short-term rental licence rules.

Once a stay runs past 30 days, the question to ask is about tenancy law, covered next.

Tenancy law: the part most owners miss

Alberta's Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to hotels and similar short stays. A furnished home rented to one person for months is much closer to a tenancy than a hotel stay, so treat any stay over 30 nights as if the Act could apply, and set it up so that works in your favour.

• 01Use a written fixed-term agreement: a clear end date is the cleanest way to make sure the stay ends when you planned. Open-ended monthly arrangements are harder to end.
• 02Keep the deposit within the limit: Alberta caps a residential security deposit at one month's rent, and it has to be held in trust.
• 03Do move-in and move-out inspections: written reports signed by both sides are what let you claim damage against a deposit.
• 04Book through a platform that takes payment: Airbnb monthly stays and similar platforms collect the money and keep a record of every message, which protects both sides.

This is general information, not legal advice. The Alberta RTA handbook or a lawyer is the place to confirm a specific situation.

Taxes: the tourism levy and GST

Alberta's tourism levy is 6% on short stays booked from April 1, 2026. Stays of 28 or more consecutive days by the same guest are exempt, from the first night. If you take direct bookings, you remit the levy yourself on stays under 28 nights.

GST works differently. Accommodation rented as a residence for a month or more is generally exempt, while short stays can be taxable once your rental income passes the small supplier threshold. Ask your accountant how your mix of short and long stays should be handled.

Who books mid-term stays in Calgary and Edmonton

• 01Travel nurses and health care contract staff: contracts often run around three months, and they want furnished homes close to the hospital.
• 02People relocating for work: new jobs in energy, tech and the trades, waiting to buy or for a lease to start.
• 03Insurance placements: families displaced by a house fire, flood or hail damage, housed by their insurer while repairs run for months.
• 04Contractors and project crews: weekday-heavy stays near industrial areas and job sites.
• 05Families between homes: the sale closed before the purchase did.

Most of this demand holds steady from October to April, which is exactly when short-term bookings slow down.

Mid-term vs short-term vs long-term

For what owners actually take home on short stays compared with a lease, see Airbnb vs long-term rental in Calgary and Edmonton.

The hybrid calendar: mid-term winters, short-term summers

For many Calgary and Edmonton homes the strongest year runs both: a mid-term guest from roughly November to April, when nightly rates and occupancy are at their lowest, then short stays from May to October, when Stampede, festivals and summer travel push rates up.

It takes planning. Block the summer dates before you sign a winter guest, set the mid-term end date before your first big summer weekend, and keep the home photo-ready with the same furniture and supplies. In Calgary, one licence covers both. In Edmonton, keep the short-term licence active for the summer.

Our STR vs long-term ROI calculator gives a first look at the short-term side.

Mid-term stays with ThreeBNB

We run mid-term stays for owners today, alongside short stays, and build them into the business case when we put one together for a home. Owners in Calgary and Edmonton see every booking, payout and repair in the owner portal, whichever kind of stay it is.

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