Welcome to the Locum Home Frequently Asked Questions page! We’ve compiled a list of the most commonly asked questions about our services to help you find the information you need. If you don’t find the answer to your question on this page, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here to help!
General Questions
Locum Home is an independent, privately-owned company that is not affiliated with any public or private healthcare organizations. We operate independently and are focused on providing a valuable service to both property owners and healthcare professionals. By operating as a privately-owned company, we are able to maintain a high level of flexibility and agility, allowing us to adapt to the changing needs of our clients and the market.
At Locum Home, our mission is to support healthcare across British Columbia (BC) by promoting exclusive access to accommodations for healthcare professionals (HCPs). That’s why we only accept registration requests from HCPs (guests) who are registered with a College that has an approved health profession designation under the BC Health Professions Act. To view a list of these professions, please visit the BC Government website.
To register for a HCP (guest) account on Locum Home, you’ll need to verify your identity and validate your current, practicing registration as a regulated healthcare professional in British Columbia. We do not accept booking requests from HCPs whose registration is pending, has lapsed, or has been suspended/cancelled.
It isn’t new information to many Canadians that there is a shortage of housing options available in many communities. What might be news to some people, however, is that the housing shortage is also affecting healthcare. This is because there are times when a healthcare professional has agreed to come temporarily work in, or relocate permanently to, a new community but they are unable to find a place to stay in that community. This can be especially relevant in rural and remote communities where there are limited accommodations and fewer hotels.
Locum Home is a social impact service that connects community members with healthcare professionals in need of short-term housing. By offering a platform that provides affordable and reliable accommodations, we aim to ease some of the stress that healthcare professionals deal with when coming to communities across the province. We also understand that property owners may have had negative experiences with short-term renters in the past, which is why we only work with accountable and responsible healthcare professionals. At the same time, our low fees and transparent pricing make it easy for property owners to list their properties on our platform and feel confident that they are providing a valuable service to their community. By using Locum Home, property owners can be proud of the fact that they are helping healthcare in their community.
Host Questions
At Locum Home, we believe that hosting should be affordable and accessible for all. That’s why we charge a low, flat marketing fee of just 5% on all bookings made through our site. This fee helps us to cover the costs of marketing and maintaining the platform, and it is significantly lower than what many of our competitors charge. Our hope is that hosts will be able to pass on some of these savings to travelers in the form of competitive prices, while still making a fair profit for themselves. As a social impact service, our mission is to create a positive impact on society and to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our users. By keeping our fees low, we hope to encourage hosts to join our community and to help us achieve our mission of improving healthcare access across the province.
At Locum Home, we take the safety and security of our hosts and travelers very seriously. That’s why we have implemented a rigorous two-step verification process for all travelers who request bookings on our platform. First, we validate their personal identification to ensure that they are who they say they are. Next, we verify that they have current, practicing registration with their professional College in British Columbia. This helps us to ensure that all travelers who use our platform are qualified, responsible, and accountable healthcare professionals. By going the extra mile to verify the identities and credentials of our travelers, we hope to provide hosts with peace of mind and to create a safe, trustworthy environment for everyone who uses our service.
Please contact us at booking@locumhome.ca for host requests outside of British Columbia. We are eager to expand across Canada in order to support healthcare for all Canadians.
Yes! As long as you ensure that your home meets the local requirements (municipal bylaws) and that you have sufficient insurance, you can list your place on Locum Home for portions of the year when you are not staying there.
Healthcare Professional (HCP) Questions
At Locum Home, we are committed to providing the best possible experience for all of our users. If you are a healthcare professional who is waiting for your registration in British Columbia to be processed, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We understand that the College registration process can take time, and we want to do everything we can to support you. We are happy to work with you on a case-by-case basis to see what we can do to help you get registered with Locum Home and to start using our platform as soon as possible. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns, and we will do our best to assist you.
We strive to process all registration requests as quickly and efficiently as possible. We are committed to reviewing and approving registration requests within 24 hours of receiving them, provided that all necessary documentation has been submitted. If you are interested in joining our community of healthcare professionals, please make sure to complete the registration process and provide all required documentation in a timely manner. This will help us to review and approve your request as quickly as possible, and to get you set up and ready to use our platform. We look forward to welcoming you to the Locum Home community!
Locum Home is intended for healthcare professionals who will be providing healthcare services in that community during their stay. Locum Home will only grant access to healthcare professionals who have active registration with the College in the province they are renting a Locum Home in.
Locum Home charges guests an 8% service fee. This is calculated from the base rent and added to the booking total.
Applicable taxes and credit card payment fees are added onto to the booking total (GST, PST, and MRDT).
Lastly, there is a security deposit and cleaning fee that will be determined by the host and added to the guest’s total.