City of London by-law officials say the owners of nearly 300 short-term accommodations in the city need to put their welcome mats away following a 2022 amendment that’s bringing hundreds of unlicensed rentals into the spotlight.
Last year, the municipal council approved an amendment to the business licensing by-law to regulate short-term accommodations, including those posted on host and online broker websites such as AirBnB and Vrbo.
According to the city, the new rules require these rentals, which can be entire homes or individual rooms and must be rented for 29 days or less, to be located on the property owner’s primary residence, inherently eliminating absent hosts.
“Council enacted this by-law amendment following a full public participation process,” said Orest Katolyk, director of municipal compliance, in a news release.
In a statement Tuesday, the city said 55 applications were submitted for licences this year and 31 were granted. The blitz left the local market with 366 unlicensed properties identified by the city. The city issued notices to let them know they were contravening the bylaw.
Of those properties, 89 require a licence and 277 must cease operating as a short-term rental as the premises do not appear to be the principal residence of the property owner.
“The purpose of the amendment is to protect the health and safety of persons using these accommodations, to ensure these accommodations do not create neighbourhood nuisances, and to protect the residential amenity, character and stability of residential communities,” Katolyk said.
The penalties for operating in violation of the by-law regulations are $500, which could be doubled for repeat offences.
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