City panel balks at short-term rental rules
Rules expected to address the explosion of short-term rental properties in Saskatoon failed to get the blessing of a city hall commission.
The municipal planning commission recommended on Tuesday that city council send the proposed rules back to the city administration for reconsideration.
The monthly commission meeting attracted an unusually large audience of more than 20 people and heard from a handful of speakers concerned about the proposed rules, aimed at short-term rentals offered through online platforms like Airbnb.
“I think there are a lot of grey areas here,” commission chair Diane Bentley told the meeting.
The city administration settled on a proposal that would require most of those offering short-term rentals in the city to get a business licence and approval by city council and neighbours.
Under the same proposal, those offering rentals for two or fewer people in their primary residence, referred to by the city as “homestays,” would not require a business licence or any approval.
But those who are renting out an entire property at which they either do not reside or are absent for the rental period would need to acquire a business licence for $125.
These properties, which represent about 60 per cent of all shortterm rentals, would also be limited to six guests at a time and would require at least two off-street parking spaces.
Any property, such as an apartment building, would be limited to no more than 40 per cent of units offered for short-term rental before it would be licensed as a hotel. Commission members regarded this percentage as too high and said they want it reconsidered, along with the guest limit and parking requirements.
Landlord Lloyd Beazley said he converted some of his rental properties to offer them short term online to deal with a high vacancy rate. Beazley called for a “grandfathering mechanism” for people like himself.
“Civil society needs rules, but it also needs stability,” he said.
Jim Bence, president and CEO of the Saskatchewan Hotel Hospitality Association, said homestays represent a different concern than larger-scale rentals.
“You start to operate in a commercial capacity, that’s a whole different ball of wax,” Bence said.
He added that the hotel industry in the province has been “crippled” by an economic slowdown.
Jeff Jackson, who used to chair the commission, appeared to call the city’s approach to the rules a “comedy of errors.” Jackson called for new consultations that would reveal the true cost of applying for approval for a short-term rental property.
Jackson noted out the fee had risen to $2,500 from $1,050 and that an even larger increase was proposed.
“Process matters,” he said. “Quite frankly, public consultation on this file was done in bad faith.
“The administration needs to be held to account.”
The effort to come up with new rules dates back more than four years to time when bed and breakfast operators in Saskatoon asked for an update to reflect the rise in online rentals.
Katherine Soule Blaser, who owns two houses in Caswell Hill and rents one out on Airbnb, expressed concern about the guest limit and off-street parking requirement.
“I think the people are speaking,” she said of the popularity of online rentals.