Neighbours complain parties, noise rampant at home rented on Air BnB

WATCH ABOVE: Why one group of neighbours have a problem with a nearby home advertising on AirBnB. Mark Carcasole reports. 

TORONTO – An Air BnB host criticized for not caring about her neighbours and renting out her home just so people could have parties and leave garbage strewn across the street is defending herself.

Some residents on a street in Willowdale have been claiming a home on their street advertised on Air BnB is disrupting what was a quiet, residential street.

“There’s been a number of parties and short-term rentals and I think our biggest concern is probably safety,” Bernie Gillett said in an interview. “We don’t know who’s in the house, who’s coming and going, what’s happening in there, this past summer we’ve had a fair number of parties, young kids, a lot of garbage, a lot of noise.”

Bernie and her husband Tom say that despite attempts, they’ve never met the owner of the house. She said she’s concerned the partiers could spill out into the street and if something happens, to the partiers or their property, they don’t know who to contact.

The problem culminated in June when neighbours say they twice called the police around 1:30 a.m. due to excessive noise and people partying on the street.

Global News tried to contact the Air BnB host via the website and got a response from someone identifying herself as Helen.  She said she did get a complaint from a neighbour last June but never heard from the police or city officials.

And she made changes after to try to make things right, she said, including increasing the minimum amount of time people have to stay.

“We increase [sic] the cost to rent, it became harder to afford for people who just want to party. We do take neighbor’s complaint seriously.”

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Her husband, Tom, said that while he is concerned about the excessive noise, he claimed the owner is operating an “illegal business.”

“The zoning is single-family zoning and clearly the fellow’s running a business,” Tom said. “He’s advertising on Air BnB but the illegal activity is the fact that he has a business running here.”

But it’s not clear whether the Air BnB host is doing anything illegal. The city is not currently reviewing Air BnB’s in the city because there has “been no direction from City Council to undertake” one, according to an email from the city’s planning division. The city has received only one complaint about Air BnB.

The email goes on to say that “if someone wishes to rent out their whole house, there is nothing in the Zoning By-laws that would prohibit this.”

Air BnB sent a statement following publication of this story:

“Over 30 million guests have stayed on Airbnb, and on New Year’s Eve, over 550,000 people stayed in an Airbnb around the world. Complaints like this are extremely rare, and our team is investigating this situation further. 

We encourage all of our hosts to think carefully about the responsibilities that come with hosting, including being mindful of their neighbours. We provide clear information for our community on how to host responsibly. If neighbours ever have questions or concerns we encourage them to contact us.”

– With files from Mark Carcasole