Short-term rental info session draws crowd

More than 150 people attended an information session Wednesday night to learn more about how the city intends to regulate the short-term rental industry. It was a chance to hear the findings of a recent consultant’s report on shortterm rental accommodations and some of the recommendations city staff will present to city council next month.

For some, like Brian Sparks who lives in the ByWard Market in a duplex that shares a wall with a rowdy short-term rental, it was a chance to hear how the city intends to handle noise complaints.

For others, like Airbnb “super host” Claire Laroche, it was her opportunity to say how renting out her basement apartment has been a “life-changing ” decision for her and how she worries stricter regulations would make it harder for her to stay in the short-term rental business.

“I have had zero problems,” Laroche said, adding she’s had guests visit from all over the world, many of whom she has kept up a friendship with. Two young visitors from Taiwan even wrote letters thanking her for being their “Canadian mother” while they studied at CHEO.

“My big worry is zoning. It’s a huge worry,” Laroche said. One of the proposals the city is considering is limiting short-term rentals to 180 days a year.

“That’s half a year. I need the income,” she said.

Another proposal to restrict people to only renting out their primary residence angered Neil Brodie, who rents out a property in Lowertown on Airbnb.

“We had long-term renters for about three years and they destroyed the floors, the walls and the appliances. And there’s very little recourse for that. They leave and you can’t find them. Airbnb

provides a customer-owner relationship so if something goes wrong, you can find them.”

Restricting rentals to just one property is unfair to entrepreneurs who are providing a service and supporting tourism in the city, he said.

“To restrict this business to just one residence is to restrict someone’s economic progress.”

But not everyone was an Airbnb booster. One man who spoke lived beside the “ghost rental” house on Benson Street where two people were shot during a massive house party last weekend.

“Does it take two people getting shot to bring attention to this?” he asked.

There have been no shootings in the ByWard Market rental unit beside Brian Sparks, but he’s made plenty of complaints to the city about late night noise and partying next door. Sparks said his calls to the city’s 311 bylaw enforcement number don’t work.

“311 is broken. It doesn’t work. The city needs a dedicated line for complaints about short-term rentals where you can get action that night, not the next day after you’ve already lost a night’s sleep.”

The proposed legislation goes before the city’s community and protective services committee meeting on Nov. 15 and full city council later that month. bcrawford@postmedia.com