WATCH ABOVE: As more and more services are available – and advertised – online, city bylaw officials are facing a new challenge in enforcing the rules. Emily Mertz explains.
EDMONTON – It’s a brave new world out there. More and more, services are being offered — and advertised — online. So, how do municipalities enforce local bylaws for services posted in a global space?
Ride-sharing apps and home-sharing websites are two services growing in popularity in most major cities in Canada.
“Canadians as a whole, it’s in their DNA to share,” says Aaron Zifkin, AirBnB’s country manager for Canada. “Hospitality is in their DNA.”
AirBnB is a website that lets residents in more than 35,000 cities around the world offer up their homes as vacation rental properties. As of Jan. 14, 2015, the platform had 217 Edmonton listings. A similar site, HomeAway, had 31 Edmonton listings.
“We see it as a new segment of travel,” says Zifkin. “People really want to stay like a local. Over 70 per cent of our listings are outside of a traditional hotel district.”
But, when this type of home-sharing comes with a price tag, Edmonton bylaw officials take notice.
“Any business operating out of a residence requires a set of approvals,” explains the city’s manager of current planning, Scott Mackie.
“Often, neighbours will have concerns such as noise or traffic or parking and we want to make sure — through the approval process — that they have the opportunity to provide input into that application to operate a business.”
Residential properties that offer short-term accommodation for a price need a business licence and permit. If they don’t have those?
“They’d be in violation of both the zoning bylaw as well as the business licence bylaw,” says Mackie.
“Fines and penalties under those bylaws can be in the thousands of dollars.”
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Similarly, when Uber launched in Edmonton in December, the city said once Uber drivers started taking fares, they would be illegal; operating without a taxi licence.
Bylaw officers had already identified and fined drivers of what the city calls ‘bandit taxis.’
READ MORE: Free Uber rides end in Edmonton at midnight
For home rentals, Mackie says the problem isn’t where the property is advertised; it’s how it operates.
“We’re not concerned about whether or not they’re getting the referrals over the internet or whether or not they’re getting the referrals over some other median. What we’re concerned about is the actual operation of the B and B.”
“The web is offering a new medium for these types of businesses to operate, but certainly businesses have been operating out of homes in this city for many many years,” he adds. “I think, to be honest with you, it’s going to assist in our investigations because it becomes much more transparent.”
The city says licensing allows it to ensure certain standards, but AirBnB argues the bylaws are out-of-date.
“Unfortunately, a lot of these laws that we’re discussing were created before the internet was even in existence or contemplated models like the sharing economy or home-sharing, more specifically,” says Zifkin, who adds the company is working with local regulators across the globe to adapt bylaws.
“When it comes to regulations, what we’re looking for are fair and reasonable regulations that allow people to share their principal residence which over 82 per cent of AirBnB hosts do.”
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