Noisy Airbnb renters raise ire of Willowdale residents
Home rental websites such as Airbnb are growing in popularity, bringing new issues to Toronto’s neighbourhoods, but the practice is not regulated by the city.

thestar.com
March 18, 2015
By Vanessa Lu

Residents of a quiet, suburban Willowdale street are complaining about living near a house that’s being rented out on the popular website Airbnb, bringing added noise, garbage and parties.

Renters have ranged from a large family reunion to workers on a construction project. But the five-bedroom house on Glenelia Ave., near Bayview and Cummer Aves., was the site of a party last June that appeared to be a high school prom celebration, where police had to be called.

“That was the icing on the cake,” said Peter Hopperton, estimating there were over 100 teenagers there that night. “The next morning, we were picking up beer bottles and garbage.

“You never really know who’s going to be there from one week to the next. There are no rules and there’s no one to contact,” he said.

“There are lots of people coming and going,” said Jan Morrissey, Hopperton’s wife. “Until I talked to the cleaners one day, I didn’t realize it was on Airbnb.”

Sometimes the rentals are benign, she said, but other times, renters can be loud into the wee hours of the morning on the front porch. They bring a large number of cars, parking on both sides of the street and clogging up the road.

This case highlights a growing issue that has emerged with new, disruptive companies such as Airbnb - which links homeowners with travellers looking for a place to stay - and Uber - which links passengers with drivers.

Airbnb, with an estimated value nearing $20 billion (U.S.) or more, is transforming the way people are travelling, allowing people to stay in ordinary homes and apartments instead of hotels.

Existing municipal regulations don’t necessarily apply. In some cases, condo or co-op board rules clearly outlaw the practice. Some jurisdictions, from Amsterdam to San Francisco, are moving to set up clear rules around short-term stays.

New sites keep sprouting up from Airbnb, Flipkey, Homeaway and vrbo.com. Travellers like the conveniences of home, savings on accommodation and the chance to live like a local.

But these rentals make the neighbours nervous, especially when they don’t know who is staying at the home. Tom Gillett thinks the city needs to step in and regulate this growing type of business, including requiring the owner to remain on the premises.

“You have to define what is allowed and what is not allowed. A party business is not allowed,” he said.

But the city doesn’t appear ready to intervene. For several days, the Star asked for an interview with officials in municipal licensing and standards, but was told no one was available.

Earlier this month, the city said it had received no complaints about Airbnb and had no plans to regulate it, noting that if someone wishes to rent out their house, there is nothing in the zoning bylaws to prohibit this.

City spokeswoman Tammy Robbinson later said it has received a few inquiries and is aware of one complaint regarding Airbnb.

“There has been no direction from city council to undertake a review of Airbnb or the necessity to regulate short-term rentals specifically,” she added in an email.

But Councillor David Shiner (open David Shiner's policard), who has fielded complaints from the residents on Glenelia Ave., believes the province needs to give the city more enforcement powers.

“We have no idea who is renting the house, who is in the house and what the use is inside the house,” he said, adding municipal inspectors can only enter the dwelling if residents allow them in, and inspectors need evidence as well as individuals willing to testify in court.

“It’s difficult when all you really have is a website,” Shiner said, referring to Airbnb.

Morrissey has emailed Airbnb repeatedly since December, getting form replies and promises of a response, but received no formal responses until after the Star began making inquiries.

In an emailed statement, Airbnb’s Aaron Zifkin, who is country manager for Canada, said the company was investigating this listing further, but declined to say anything more.

Zifkin emphasized that the company is built on trust, with 30 million guests to date, and has various features to protect people including more than 150 people working in the “trust and safety” division.

“We encourage all of our hosts to think carefully about the responsibilities that come with hosting, including being mindful of their neighbours,” Zifkin said. “If neighbours ever have questions or concerns, we encourage them to contact us, and we’ve established a toll-free hotline to make it easier for neighbours to get in touch with us.”

The property on Glenelia Ave. is owned by a numbered Ontario company. The Star spoke to a woman named Helen, who was listed as home’s owner or host on rental websites, about the neighbours’ complaints about loud parties.

“It’s not for parties. It’s for vacations,” she said, adding some are visitors to Canada or for individuals in Toronto on short work assignments, “for one month or two months.”

Helen said she has no received any complaints from the neighbours and never heard about the June party that the neighbours said the police were called to. She added it would be impossible to have 100 people at the house.

However, when pressed, she acknowledged that there had been an issue on one occasion, but now she charges additional fees for groups larger than six to a maximum of 12.

As well, she said if she discovers the renters are young, she will emphasize there is to be no outside noise after 11 p.m.

“We keep it very clean,” she said. “We are very careful.”