Hamilton council backs short-term rental regulations

Hamilton councillors have approved a licensing system for short-term rentals that bars them outside of primary residences.

The new rules to reel in the Airbnb-style operations passed on a 13-3 council vote Wednesday. They include licensing, registration and inspection requirements as well as fees.

Operators are also prohibited from offering short-term rentals in homes they don't live in.

The regulations to start in June are meant to shore up long-term rental stock, and respond to complaints about safety and noise at some residences.

Coun. Esther Pauls, however, said the overwhelming majority" of short-term-rental owners run tight ships as a means of extra income.

Pauls said too many restrictions" can have a negative effect on property owners and those who rely on short-stay options alike.

The latter cohort includes not only tourists, but also articling law students and health-care professionals on short contracts, she said.

The Ward 7 councillor suggested a less intrusive" approach that could involve a licence-and-demerit point system to deal with a few bad apples or actors."

In green-lighting the bylaw, council scrapped an initial staff proposal to place 120-night annual limit a home could be rented for short stays.

Last week, tenant Emily Power told councillors that staff's original strong" regulations could help push hundreds of apartments back into the long-term market.

Power, an urban planning graduate student who has studied the local rental market, noted there are more than 1,300 active short-term stay listings in Hamilton.

The rise of Airbnb in Hamilton has coincided with rising rents and an increasing number of evictions," she added.

City politicians have heard from dozens of homeowners - via letters, virtually or in person - about the contentious proposal.

Some point to short-term rentals as preferable income generator to bitter experiences with problematic tenants as conventional landlords.

In a letter, the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington called the bylaw unfairly restrictive," including the limitation of short-term rentals to primary residences.

As economic inequality worsens, wages stagnate and inflation rises, many Hamiltonians depend on the income generated from short-term rental units to make ends meet," Lou Piriano wrote.

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com