Rental diversity
Short-term rental welcome regulation, but not restriction
Terrie Williams says the shortterm rental industry has been getting a bad rap lately.
Williams was one of six representatives of the Short Term Renters Association who presented to the City of Charlottetown’s committee of council earlier this week.
“(Short-term rentals) are viable businesses. It adds to the economy and is a big benefit and revenue driver for the city’s small businesses and restaurants and gives families and people a place to stay, which has really revitalized the city,” Williams said in an interview with The Guardian after the meeting.
Williams said when the Short Term Rental Association was created, it had 50 members. Now, that number has almost doubled, to 90 members.
“(Membership) grows every day.”
Ultimately, Williams said the association believes there should be further regulation for shortterm rentals but is hoping Charlottetown council will come up with rules that treats businesses fairly.
“A bylaw that doesn’t shut people down that have more than one unit and, as I said in my presentation, half the people who presented (at the committee of council) have more than one unit,” she said, referring to a possible rule that would require all short-term rental units be owner-occupied.
“Most of people have one unit that they didn’t live in, so owner occupied is not an option, it is basically a bed and breakfast,” she said.
She says even though she rents multiple units on Airbnb, she uses a hands-on approach.
“I am not a big corporation. I meet the guests personally. I check them in. I know everything going on. It is all my investments, so I am hands on. But the primary resident option limits and is very restrictive,” she said.
She said half of the presenters use their rentals as income properties, and the group is hoping the new bylaw doesn’t shut the short-term rental industry down.
Figuring out what exactly will be a good fit for Charlottetown, she said, will be essential as every city has its own regulations depending on its demographic.
“We are not Toronto. We are not Vancouver. We rely heavily on the tourism industry, and if we do anything to jeopardize that, we will lose that trickledown effect.”
She said she hoped council will move slowly and consider the new rental units coming on the market in the next 12 to 15 months.
“The affordable housing crisis is real – we acknowledge that – but we aren’t the total reason it is there,” she said.
“To limit and restrict shortterm rentals before seeing the outcome of these new units on the market, I think premature to do that. I think that the association was hoping that the city will put in restrictions, put in a bylaw but not limit us and not shut us down.”
Other representatives who presented to council included Terry Hennessey, Mark Belfry, Dave Tombs, Don MacLean and Lori Kays.