Airbnb tells Vaughan not to imitate Toronto, tone down proposed fees

Council to be presented with proposed changes on short-term rentals May 14

Yorkregion.com
May 9, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Airbnb -- the room, apartment, house rental and travel platform -- isn’t quite convinced of the City of Vaughan’s proposals, especially looming fees on brokers climbing as high as $10,000.

Following the finance, administration and audit committee meeting on May 6, Vaughan has shared an email it received from Airbnb, showing how the short-term rental company isn’t happy with some proposals by the city.

The email penned by Airbnb’s public policy department, Sta Kuzviwanza, wrote that cities with “small host communities” such as Vaughan “have had greater success when they choose to not duplicate the regulatory framework of municipalities like Toronto or Vancouver, who have significantly larger host communities.”

“We encourage you to continue to look for a tailored, made-in Vaughan solution that reflects the actual scale of home sharing in Vaughan.”

Some of the city’s proposals include the introduction of licensing fees for short-term rentals at an annual rate of $300 per property, and imposing an escalating fee structure on brokers ranging between $500 and $10,000, depending on the numbers of properties managed.

However, Kuzviwanza wrote that the San Francisco-headquartered Airbnb’s “biggest concerns as set out in your preliminary proposal is the fee.”

“This fee, scaling from $300 to up $10,000 for hosts with more than one property is very high.”

So far, the “majority” of Airbnb renters in Vaughan are people who are “sharing” their homes to “make a little extra income each month.”

Kuzviwanza advised, “For example, some communities have put forward a reasonable licensing fee of $50 annual for hosts.”

When York Region Media asked the city about the fees, it said that it “continues to welcome feedback from the public” in hopes of allowing “short-term rental businesses to operate fairly in the City, while as the same time ensuring community safety.”

The city is also proposing to amend the zoning bylaw to “define STRs and add provisions restricting them to one per property, only principal residences, and only in zones that permit residential uses.”

But that too didn’t sit well with Airbnb, estimated to be worth more than $30 billion, as Kuzviwanza wrote, “We have also noted that the proposal for short-term rentals will be restricted to one per property.

“We would question the fundamental reason for that proposed restriction. It isn’t yet clear how secondary suites or hosts renting out more than one bedroom will be addressed in this freemake.”

In addition, the city is mulling a municipal registration system for Airbnb but Kuzviwanza says, “we encourage staff to explore the option of an online registration system, if this is not already being done.”

“Our experience in other jurisdictions has shown that providing a simple online registration process encourages higher compliance rate.”

So far, the city said it’s “exploring different options to ensure full compliance with the short-term rental regulations bylaw, that is currently being developed.”

In May last year, a fatal shooting at an Airbnb rental shook Vaughan, leading the city to look into fast tracking new rules on short-term rentals.

Late last year, the city begun an online survey, which showed that 70 per cent of respondents wanted Vaughan to put new rules and regulations in place to dictate how and where short-term rentals may be permitted to operate.

So far, the city hasn’t publish the full details of the survey. However, the proposed amendments and recommendations will be presented for adoption at council May 14 at 1 p.m.