City to look at policy covering short-term rentals
Councillor says residents concerned about noise, waste from visitors

OttawaCommunityNews.com
July 14, 2017
Jennifer McIntosh

The city needs to look at Airbnb and short-term rentals before we end up with a situation similar to that of Uber, said College Coun. Rick Chiarelli.

Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans introduced a motion at council on July 12 due in large part to complaints she’s received from residents of Hunt Club Park.

A home in the area has been renting out the basement and there are complaints of traffic, noise and waste.

Paul Norris, president of the Hunt Club Park Community Association, said residents haven’t come to him with complaints, but invites people to air their grievances at the community association’s annual general meeting on Sept. 26.

Chiarelli said in his area, it’s been an increasing problem since school ended.

“Students vacated rooms in April and people are renting out those rooms under Airbnb, but you can’t circumvent laws just because there’s an app,” he said.

Deans’ motion will ask city staff to look at what control the city has over short-term rentals under the city’s bylaws.

Chiarelli said it’s possible there will need to be a specialized bylaw created or a possibly a subsection of the city’s rules around home-based businesses or bed and breakfasts.

“We place a lot of requirements on hotels in terms of health and safety, parking and impact to neighbourhoods,” Chiarelli said, adding someone renting out their apartment or home doesn’t take any of those things into account.

The city also needs to know just what the volume is. Chiarelli said he isn’t convinced the uptake in his ward can be attributed to Canada 150 celebrations, but he’s certainly hearing more about issues than he was last year.

“No one wants their street turning into a carousel for hotel rentals,” Chiarelli said.

As the popularity with the app increases, the issue gets more attention.

Chiarelli said among the problems are the number of people to a room and the additional traffic on streets designed for use by residents of single-family homes.

Among the things he’d like to see considered under a new bylaw would be a cap on the number of people per room.

“I think we would also like to limit the ability for people not living in their home to be able to rent it out on Airbnb,” he said.