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Toronto proposes regulations on short-term home rental services

June 19th, 2017  |  Home

The City of Toronto, taking a cue from other popular tourist cities around the world, is looking to place regulations on services, such as Airbnb, that offer short term rental accommodations.

These proposed regulations aim to provide some stability to the Toronto market by:

  • Amending zoning bylaws and creating a new land use named “short-term rental”
  • Banning short-term rentals not in a person’s principal residence
  • Licensing short-term rental services, such as Airbnb
  • Creating a registry of all eligible short-term rental properties in the city

Mayor John Tory has high hopes that these regulations will help cool the hot Toronto, and surrounding area, housing market. Prohibiting short-term rentals that are not in a person’s principal residence will hopefully deter buyers from obtaining property for the sole purpose of utilizing the space for short-term rental purposes.

"It is taking housing off the market that might otherwise be available for long-term permanent renters as it were — and that's a problem for us." Tory said of short-term properties.

According to Airbnb’s Toronto public policy manager, Alexandra Dagg, the company is open to working with the city to make sure fair regulations are put in place for all parties involved.

"We have done more than 300 agreements worldwide, collecting and remitting taxes like this through our platform," said Dagg. "We do think this is important for us to be part of that system, and we do want to pay our fair share."

If approved, these regulations will be brought in front of City Council for a vote later this year.