by Peter Hum and published in Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa’s one-year-old short-term rental bylaw has culled the stock of Airbnb rentals in the city by hundred of units, a municipal report says.
Meant to clamp down on “ghost hotels” and “party houses” often responsible for noise and other nuisance-related complaints, and also to improve the city’s long-term housing supply, the bylaw allows people to offer only their primary residences for short-term rentals of up to 30 days. Investment units used solely for short-term rentals, which are often advertised through Airbnb, were prohibited.
Before the bylaw was enacted, an analysis commissioned by the city found as many as 1,236 dedicated short-term rentals operating in Ottawa. But the city’s current count, according to the report, is that there are just two permitted dedicated short-term rentals, while just over 800 short-term rental permits were issued.
Meanwhile, the city registered 20 prohibitions against short-term rentals in condominiums, housing co-ops and rental housing buildings, says the report by Roger Chapman, the city’s director of bylaw and regulatory services. The Sept. 12 report is on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the city’s emergency preparedness and protective services committee.
The report says Chapman’s department worked with Airbnb to ensure properties could not re-list until they had obtained permits, and that 787 listings were removed. The report notes that properties and listings do not directly correspond, as many hosts use multiple listings for a single property, for example, to list different rooms.
However, some properties are still under investigation as “suspected illicit dedicated short-term rentals,” and “surveillance data suggests… fewer than 200 properties that may be operating outside of the scope of the bylaw,” says the report.
The original articles is at https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/hundreds-of-short-term-housing-rentals-culled-across-ottawa-report
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