An Edmonton homeowner says a lack of rules surrounding short-term rentals in the city has turned a home on her street into a hotel.
Heidi Johnson says there’s been a steady stream of renters coming and going from a home listed on Airbnb in the Haddow neighbourhood in southwest Edmonton.
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“We, on our street, feel we never agreed to being party to a hotel on our street, but that’s exactly what’s happening,” Johnson said.
“It’s just become a real nuisance over this last year and a half.”
Johnson said parking has been an issue. One neighbour has resorted to putting up a sign that reads: “This is not Airbnb parking. Please move your car.”
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Last summer, Johnson said the house was rented for a wedding and vehicles were parked in the middle of the street.
She said at times there’s been trash left on the lawns.
“It’s an unregulated business that’s able to operate,” Johnson said.
Colton Kirsop, a senior planner with development services, says there’s no bylaw to prevent a homeowner from renting their house permanently on a website such as Airbnb.
“We actually don’t have any direct tools for managing a short-term rentals where the owner doesn’t live on site because we don’t have any definition in our bylaws that address that type of business model,” Kirsop said.
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The city has been looking at the issue and will have a report going to city council’s planning committee in early 2019.
“We’ve looked at how other municipalities do it and there are, quite frankly, a wide range of approaches,” Kirsop said.
“Toronto and Vancouver have each taken different approaches. Canmore has some experience here in Alberta and we’ve also looked at American jurisdictions. So we’ll be looking at those models as well as some of our own creative solutions.”
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In 2017, there were 1,105 listings for short-term rentals in Edmonton. In 2014, there were only 44 listings.
Since January 2017, the city has only received six complaints regarding short-term rentals, according to Kirsop.
A message to the host of the property listed on Airbnb was not returned.