What is a Short Term Rental?
The term “Short-Term Rental” or “Short-Term Accommodation” is when all or part of a dwelling unit is used to provide sleeping accommodations for any rental period that is less than 30 consecutive days in exchange for payment.
Online short-term rental (STR) platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway, and FlipKey fall within the ‘sharing economy’ which describes online platforms that connect consumers to each other, in order to sell or rent things to one another. Home sharing has increased in popularity because it provides a more personal alternative to hotels during vacations or business travel, and income potential to the home owner that can help supplement mortgage payments.
STR's present challenges to existing regulations like local municipal by-laws (i.e. property taxes, zoning and licensing by-laws) and home-owners may not be aware they are violating provincial legislation in addition to municipal rules and/or condominium corporate rules.
The Impacts of Short-Term Rentals
Similar to other municipalities, the City of Brampton experiences a numbers of challenges related to short-term rentals, such as:
- Decreased number of affordable rental units available
- Properties being used as ‘party-houses’
- Maintenance of the property
- Number of parked vehicles
- Increase in garbage complaints
- Change in neighbourhood character
- Community safety
- Commercialization of STRs (i.e. Ghost Hostels)
Home-sharing platforms allow individuals to make more money renting on the short-term market than the long-term market, which in turn can deplete the available housing stock and raise market value rent in the area. To help combat the issue of affordable housing, regulatory measures can be taken such as limiting home-sharing to the principal residence only and the number of days a unit can be rented.