Owen Sound City Hall. (file photo)
Owen Sound is targeting next spring to implement a new licensing system for short-term rentals (STR) like Airbnbs, after city council recently endorsed regulations property owners will have to follow.
Council passed several recommendations at its Sept. 25 meeting concerning short-term rentals, including the confirmation of a draft by-law which will introduce regulations for residences being offered as rentals for 28 days or less.
The city’s draft by-law restricts STRs only to properties that are a principal residence of an owner, and also caps the number of days each year they can be rented out and the number of people allowed to stay during a rental.
City council accepted most recommendations that came from the corporate services committee, but did choose to further restrict the days-per-year rental cap. The committee recommendation was 180 days annually, and a motion from Coun. Melanie Middlebro’ passed to reduce it to 90 days.
“I think we need to find a happy medium where we’re allowing STR owners to rent homes to generate some income … but I also feel we need to protect the residential neighbourhood as it’s meant to be,” Middlebro’ says.
Existing bed and breakfast operations need to be licensed, but are exempt from the 90-day annual days-rented cap, and the eight-person per stay limit.
City clerk Briana Bloomfield says the STR by-law comes into effect March 1, 2024. She says the city hopes to be ready to begin taking applications for the new licensing program in February.
“After March 1 if we start receiving complaints, we will be enforcing the requirement for STR operators to obtain a licence,” Bloomfield says in an email.
An operator will have to pay a $500 annual fee for an STR licence. The city’s new regulations also introduce more than 20 different fines that could be levied for non-compliance with the STR by-law. They range from $300-$1,000 and some of the infractions include an owner operating a STR at a property that is not its principal residence, or renting it out for more than 90 days per year.
City staff will be reporting back to council about a year after implementation with a review of the new rules and licensing system.