Tag: Tiny Township

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Cottage Life

Should Ontario regulate short-term rentals? Here are the pros and cons

Photo by Billion Photos/Shutterstock

Municipalities from across Ontario have taken different approaches to regulating the short-term rental industry, and now, with many local governments taking action, some are wondering if it’s time for the province to get involved. The move to provincially regulate short-term rentals wouldn’t be entirely unprecedented—Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have both implemented their own form of short-term rental regulations. 

Jelena Vuckovic, a short-term rental owner in Tiny, Ont., says she would like to see short-term rentals regulated at a provincial level as a way for the government to eliminate unnecessary confusion between jurisdictions.

“Currently each municipality has the ability to regulate STRs in any way they see fit and regulations range from complete bans of STRs, to no regulation at all,” she said, in an email. Ontario could implement province-wide short-term rental health and safety standards to fill in regulatory gaps among municipalities, says Vuckovic. 

Steve Pomeroy, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Urban Research and Education at Carleton University, says there could be pros and cons to Ontario introducing province-wide short-term rental regulations. 

The main benefit, Pomeroy says, is that the province would have stronger authority to back up the legislation. “If someone is contravening a provincial law, the recourse is usually a little bit stronger than it would be for breaking a municipal bylaw,” says Pomeroy.

Provincial regulations could also ease the financial burden for municipalities, says Pomeroy. For instance, the province could absorb the responsibilities and costs of operating a short-term rental licensing program. While local governments typically charge fees to offset the cost of licensing programs, Pomeroy says he suspects the revenues generated by licensing fees often don’t cover the cost of running and enforcing the program itself. 

While the potential for the province to absorb responsibilities from the municipalities exists, Pomeroy says the inverse has been more common of late. “The provinces are downloading responsibilities to municipalities, particularly Ontario,” he says, noting that most municipalities lack the financial resources to take on extra duties. 

A lack of resources among local governments means enforcement of short-term rental regulations could still remain an issue, regardless of the province’s involvement, says Pomeroy. 

“It’s not the kind of thing we want to have the RCMP or provincial police coming around enforcing. It’s a bylaw enforcement kind of function, which tends to be staff at the municipal level,” he says. “The challenge really for the municipalities is having the resources to do it.”

Nova Scotia currently operates a provincial short-term accommodation licensing program. The province works with private hosting sites to ensure compliance and collects the data for municipalities to use while enforcing their own short-term rental and zoning bylaws.

Vuckovic says she thinks the Nova Scotia system would be fitting for Ontario, and could potentially take a load off overburdened municipalities. “I honestly think that’s gonna solve so many problems,” she says. “Not just for us, but for the smaller townships and towns. They don’t have the money, they don’t have the manpower to be doing this. And honestly, they should not be doing it themselves, this is too big.”

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Appellants say Tiny Township’s STR rules insufficient for addressing ‘ghost hotels’

Photo by Franco Francisco Maria/Shutterstock

Community members in Tiny are pushing back against the township’s new short-term rentals regulations. Two separate appeals have been filed with the Ontario Land Tribunal over the new zoning bylaw changes that were approved by the township in October to assist with the new short-term rental regulations. The changes include a definition for short-term rentals, parking standards for rental units, and a ban on renting out accessory structures such as bunkies.

The appeals were filed by Good Neighbours Tiny, a group promoting “family-oriented residential neighbourhoods”, and the so-called Tiny Township Association of responsible short-term rental owners. 

“When you have both sides appealing the regulation, in this case, the zoning bylaw, it likely means that you didn’t do your job well and you failed to bring forth the regulation that actually fulfills its purpose and intention,” says Jelena Vuckovic, of the Tiny Township Association of Responsible Short-Term Rental Owners.

Jelena Vuckovic and her family during Christmas at their cottage in Tiny. Photo courtesy of Jelena Vuckovic

Vuckovic has owned a property in Tiny since 2020 and has been renting it out periodically to earn supplemental income. “We are just trying to stay afloat in this economy, put our kids through school, and make financial decisions that make sense for us now and when we retire,” she says. 

Vuckovic would like to see Tiny strengthen its current bylaw enforcement to bring problem rentals under control. “I think most of the complaints and issues can effectively be resolved by implementing and enforcing the existing regulations already at the Township’s disposal such as noise bylaws and building and fire codes,” she says.

Debbie Galbo and Jennifer Hierholzer of Good Neighbours Tiny also filed an appeal against the township’s new zoning regulation. They are neighbours in Tiny and both live next to a rental property which they say has housed many large and noisy groups over the last year. “It’s been a nightmare,” says Galbo. They’ve had to deal with garbage and parked cars filling up the street, and countless noise disturbances. 

Good Neighbours Tiny would also like to see the township strengthen bylaw enforcement. They would like to see bylaw officers accessible on evenings and weekends, to better deal with excessive disturbances. “We can tell you we don’t need bylaw on Tuesday at noon,” says Hierholzer. “Generally the bylaws are not being broken during the day, it’s in the middle of the night.”

Shawn Persaud, the director of planning and development at Tiny, says the new zoning bylaw doesn’t permit tourist establishments in residential areas, but it does codify where short-term rentals are permitted. “Basically, they’re permitted in all residential areas,” he says. This is something Galbo and Hierholzer would like to see changed. As they see it, there should be a separate classification and ban on short-term rentals being operated as so-called “ghost hotels” which they define as properties owned and operated for the sole purpose of short-term renting. “They should have had clear definitions of the ‘ghost hotels’ so they can shut them down immediately,” says Hierholzer.

Persaud says short-term rentals were legal before the bylaw, but the changes introduced by the Township are a move to regulate the industry. “Our interpretation is short-term rentals have always been permitted in Tiny Township,” says Persaud. “However, we needed to regulate it because it was getting out of hand as far as the number, as well as the duration of use and that, was really creating a negative impact.” 

Vuckovic also says that “ghost hotels” are an issue in Tiny, but she says the vast majority of rental owners she’s talked to are part-time renters like herself. She acknowledges the new short-term rental regulations don’t account for the differences between the two groups. While the bylaw prohibits corporations from owning short-term rentals in Tiny, Vuckovic says nothing prevents individuals from operating ‘ghost hotels’.

Vuckovic says she supports the idea of a short-term licensing system but says costs related to the new licensing regime, including a $1,500 fee as well as costs for electrical, HVAC, and wood-burning appliance inspections, will push small-time rental operators like herself out of the market. “Instead of driving out illegal ‘ghost hotels’, it will drive out families like mine,” she says.

Current deputy mayor and councillor-elect Steffen Walma says the township believes in its current short-term rental regulations, but the appeals will be weighed through the judicial system. “People have the ability to challenge laws/bylaws at any level of government,” he said. “The township believes what we have done is fair, in the best interest of the community, and procedurally correct.” 

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Cottage Life

Tiny Township approves new short-term rental regulations

Photo by Township of Tiny/Facebook

The township of Tiny’s council unanimously approved a new bylaw to licence and regulate short-term rentals.

The regulations passed in a special meeting of council on August 11, 2022, and are expected to take effect on October 4, 2022. The bylaw will establish a licencing system, health and safety standards, a demerit system, and occupancy limits. It will also limit the number of licences available to 300 and place restrictions on rental periods.

Aidan Black-Allen has been renting out her cottage in Tiny since 2015, but she worries the new regulations go too far. “It’s going to make it really difficult, if not impossible, for families like mine to continue to be able to supplement their income by using the cottage as a short-term rental,” she says. 

Black-Allen says she supports the licencing of short-term rentals but worries about the costs associated with the new bylaw. She points to the $1500 licencing fee, mandatory inspections, and—for those who don’t live in Tiny—the hiring of staff who can attend to the rental property within an hour’s notice (as required by the bylaw). “I only rent my cottage for about six weeks a year. So for me, this completely wipes out any income that I’m going to make,” she says. 

Photo of Aidan Black-Allen
Photo by Aidan Black-Allen

Black-Allen started renting out her property to earn supplemental income while she stepped back from full-time work to raise her three children, and she says Tiny’s approach will price part-time renters like herself out of the market. “The people who bought these places primarily for the purpose of renting them out are the ones who are going to have the money to do this. So, you actually push out families, like mine, who rely on this income,” she says.

Short-term rentals provide work for local businesses and contribute to the town’s tourism industry, and Black-Allen argues placing restrictions that reduce the number of rental properties could also be detrimental to Tiny’s economy.

Rental owners can increase their rates to cover the new costs associated with the bylaw, says deputy mayor Steffen Walma. The $1500 licencing fee amounts to an extra $16 per day for property owners who rent out their units for the maximum allowable time of 92 days, a cost which can be added on to existing rental fees, he says. “Tiny is a beautiful place, and I actually feel like people would pay an extra $16 or even $25 to make up that difference,” he says. “I definitely think they’d have to adjust their prices to make up the $1500 difference, but I don’t think it changes anything as far as rentability.”

Many of the inspections (building code, fire protection, and zoning) are covered by the $1500 licencing fee, says Walma. While some inspections (electrical and, when applicable, H-VAC and wood burning appliances) and necessary repairs may cost rental-owners money, they are there to ensure that people aren’t renting out substandard and unsafe properties, he says. He also notes the bylaw bans businesses and corporations from obtaining a short-term rental licence.

Walma hopes this bylaw will serve as a first step to regulating short-term rentals in a way that appeases both short-term rental owners and those who take issue with them. “To me, this is kind of the middle ground. So we’ll be able to hopefully find a place where both can exist and not negatively impact the other.”

As for Black-Allen, she is still considering what these rules might mean for the future as a short-term rental operator. “It’s really hard to say,” she says. “I know that there are a lot of people out there who are going to be facing similar difficult decisions.”

Here are some noteworthy points from the new regulations:

  • Short-term rentals must be licenced. Rental owners will have to apply for a licence with a $1,500 application fee and receive the necessary inspections. Licenced rentals will have to have their licence numbers on display. 
  • Demerit system. Tiny will establish a demerit system to deal with bylaw, licencing, and health and safety infractions. A licence may be revoked if a rental owner reaches 15 demerit points.
  • Occupancy limit. Occupancy limits will be set at two people per bedroom.
  • Excessive noise restrictions.
  • Parking, fire and safety requirements. Standards must be met and maintained by the property owners.
  • A limit of 300 short-term rental licences in the community.
  • Emergency contact. Short-term rental owners must have someone available to attend to the property within an hour’s notice.
  • A ban on business and corporation-owned short-term rentals. The new bylaw will prohibit businesses and corporations from obtaining a short-term rental licence. 
  • Rental period restrictions. Rental owners can’t operate for more than 92 days a year, and between April 15 and October 15, properties can only be rented for a minimum of six days at a time. From October 16 to April 14, rental owners may only host one rental every six-day period.