Check Before You Rent

With Toronto still in the middle of a condominium boom and more people buying condominium units for investment purposes, particularly for short-term rentals, it is important to review both the condominium Declaration and corporation's by-laws and rules to assess whether short-term rentals are allowed. As was recently determined in Ottawa-Carleton Standard Condominium Corp. No. 961 v. Menzies, 2016 ONSC 7699, a condominium owner can be precluded from renting his or her unit for short periods of time if the Declaration or by-laws or rules prohibit such use.

In OCSCC, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ("SCJ") held that short-term leasing of a condominium through the use of sites such as "AirBnB" violated the condominium corporation's "single-family" provision in the Declarations and a rule that prohibits leasing for terms of less than 4 months and thus issued a mandatory order against the unit owners directing them to comply with the condominium's Declarations and