Northern Ontario cities and towns hope new rules prevent long-term damage from short-term rentals

This summer will be the first test for new restrictions on Airbnb and other short-term rental servicesin northern Ontario.

More and more cities and towns are bringing in new rules with the aim ofkeeping guests safe and keeping neighbourhoods peaceful.

The latest is French River, where town council will consider a short-term rental bylaw later this month, including proposed annual permits of $1,200 andlimits on how many people can stay at each property.

Mayor Gisele Pageau says they are also looking at capping the total number of short-term rentals allowed in French River at 50 and it will be "first come first served" for the nearly 100 currently operating.

"People, especially from the south, have found out that 'Hey, we can make a few bucks here.' A lot of them are absentee landlords and we're having problems," she said, adding that police and bylaw officers have already been called to parties at Airbnb properties this spring.

"And it's just starting. That's why we're trying to rush to put the bylaw in, so we can put a stop to this."

Billings Township on Manitoulin Island, which includes the village of Kagawong, brought in a new bylaw this winter requiring units listed on Airbnb, Vrbo or other services to get a permit ranging from $500 to $1,000, including fire and building code inspections.

Al Lefebvre runs a general store in Kagawong and has four attached apartments he lists on Airbnb, earning as much as $70,000 per year.

As a registered business, he doesn't need to get a permit, but he suspects the drop in bookings he's seeing this summer is due to fears about the new bylaw and he feels for the people who bought a place in town, planning to cover some of their costs by renting it out some of the time and now aren't sure how they'll make ends meet.

"I hear it everyday at my store. People are telling me 'I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what I'm going to do,'" said Lefebvre.

"People are just panicking."

Bryan Barker, the mayor of Billings Township, says the council's biggest concern is "ghost landlords" who rent the property from afar and aren't accountable to the community.

"We wanted to get a leg up before we were inundated with short-term rentals," he said.

"We have to have a balance. We obviously have people who are in favour and people who aren't in approval of the bylaw."

Terry Rees, the executive director of the 500-member Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations, says the short-term rental regulations across the province are "all over the map,' including some that have banned them altogether.

"It's spreading everywhere because these issues are boiling up," he said.

But Rees advises his member associations to not take a hard lineon short-term rentals, since many people now depend on that income in order to own a waterfront property.

For the past three months, Sault Ste. Marie has required a permit in order to operate a short-term rental business, but director of planning Peter Tonazzo says only about 20 licences have been issued and there could be as many 100 listed units in the city.

He says short-term rentals are a "valuable part of the tourismecosystem" but says safety concerns come first, especially after seven Airbnb guests died in a fire in Montreal this March.

"We want to ensure the safety of the units," said Tonazzo. "That really hits home for a municipality that you have to be on top of these things."

He acknowledges that there have been some "coordination problems" in issuing the permits and that new requirements for liability insurance has been a major "stumbling block" for some hosts.

Sherry Gauthier, who has rented out an apartment in the Sault on Airbnb for four years, says she lost four months of business due to the delays getting the permitting system up and running.

"I have no problem complying. I think laws and regulations stop us from being the wild west," Gauthier said.

"But I also think there's an opportunity for everyone to collaborate for the best possible outcome. I don't think that happened in all instances."

In North Bay, short-term rental operators have been required to get a $600 permit since February.

But planning manager Beverley Hillersays only a handful of the some 100 listed properties in the city are following the new rules and officialsmight need to start writing tickets, just as we head into the height of vacation season.

"Obviously a bit of a struggle," said Hillier.

"Establishing some regulations before things get out of hand potentially."