Hundreds of short-term rental rule breakers identified in bylaw blitz

Hundreds of unlicensed short-term rentals have been found operating in London.

City bylaw staff conducted an enforcement blitz that identified 366 properties in violation of city short term accommodation rules.

Of those, 89 did not have the required licence, while 277 did not appear to be the primary residence of the owner and must cease operation.

A bylaw regulating short-term rentals in the city came into effect in November 2022. It requires accommodations be licensed, the property be the principal residence of the owner, and brokers, who must also be licensed, post individual premise licence numbers for each listing on their platform.

“Council enacted this by-law amendment following a full public participation process,” said Orest Katolyk, the city’s director of municipal compliance. “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.”

A short-term rental is a temporary accommodation in an entire home or individual rooms within a dwelling that can be rented for a period of 29 days or less in exchange for a payment. These accommodations are typically advertised on internet platforms including Airbnb and Vrbo.

According to city officials, only 55 short-term accommodation applications were received this year with licences only granted to 31 of them.

Notices of contraventions have been issued to the owners of the 366 short-term rentals in violation of the bylaw.

The penalty for those who don’t comply with the bylaw regulations is a $500 fine. That penalty can be doubled for repeat offenders.

Read original story from London Ontario – BlackburnNews.com