Toronto's Proposal To Target Short-Term Rentals

Short-term rental companies including Airbnb could possible be facing a proposed licensing system that would decrease the amount of properties they are capable of listing, as Toronto proposes a brand new system focusing on housing affordability within the city.

With the rapid growth of short-term rental websites, including listings that are generally not the owner's primary residence, the recommendations have been made in order to lessen the impact on neighbourhoods, condo living, housing affordability, tourism and taxation. However, with these recommendations, the proposed rules do not prevent condo boards from banning short-term rentals all together.

The proposed system released on Monday, includes a licensing and registration system that restricts short-term rentals to a person's primary residence, as reported previously in an article by The Star.