Some residents in the City of Kawartha Lakes say their peace and tranquility are being disrupted by unruly users of short-term rentals.
In the upscale 17-lot private subdivision of Rolling Hills — just south of Bobcaygeon — the Rolling Hills Estates Homeowners Association say one home has become a short-term rental nightmare.
“You get a bunch of single guys up here for a weekend with their bass boats, drinking … we got problems,” said Peller Court resident Donald McKay, the association’s secretary.
The association says weekend renters of the house are regularly speeding along the road, are untidy and being disrespectful to their neighbours.
“They invade privacy, loud parties, unruly fires,” said association president Harold Bartlett.
“They actually went in to use the neighbour’s pool and used the docks.”
This week the association and other area residents (including in the Lake Scugog area) made delegations and presented petitions asking council to address short-term rentals and absentee landlords. Ideas include a minimum 30-day rental and/or guidelines on where rentals may be permitted.
“We’re not asking them to be banned; we are asking they be restricted to certain areas,” said Bartlett.
Basher Somani, owner of the Rolling Hills short-term rental, says he’s sympathetic to the neighbours’ concerns and has made efforts to address them. His five-bedroom house overlooking Pigeon Lake is often rented on weekends.
“I always try to maintain my property nice and clean. There are no dogs running around – that’s what I was accused of,” said the Oshawa businessman. “And as far as noise levels, as soon as I was aware, I came to monitor it. I try not to rent it to kids anymore. We try to rent to family members with kids. We try to tell them ‘after 9 o’clock there’s no barbecue’ and ask them to try not to use the fire pit at night.”
But Somani doesn’t believe drastic changes to short-term rentals will help the municipality.
“It wouldn’t be wise to cut down short-term rentals because it brings a lot of money in the area and region – it wouldn’t be economical or wise to do that,” he said.
The city says up to 130 properties alone are available to rent via Airbnb — a popular online marketplace to lease or rent short-term lodging including vacation and apartment rentals.
Mayor Andy Letham says city staff have been advised to come up with solutions for short-term rentals, noting only a very small percentage are problematic.
“But keeping in mind that tourism in our community is a pretty big part of our local economy,” said Letham.
“We just need to work on finding that balance to keep everybody happy”
The association say short-term rentals don’t work in single-family residential communities like Rolling Hills.
“It’s not fair to the constituents and to the investments we’ve made in our community,” said Bartlett.
Somani says he’s willing to work more with the association, but notes his property is now up for sale.
“I have nothing against the people here – it’s economical for me and I’ll just be happy when it’s sold,” he said.
City staff are expected to complete their report before next spring prior to most cottagers returning to the area.