Short-Term Rental Accommodation Study
Short-Term Rentals (STRs) are private, residential dwellings that are rented to provide temporary accommodation. There has been a considerable increase in STR market with the emergence of platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO. Haliburton County is a well-known tourist and cottage area, so much so that the population exhibits a significant increase in the summer months, fueling the economy and waterfront development of the area. As such, this puts Haliburton County in a unique position of balancing the advancements in the tourism industry with the need to create a regulatory framework to manage these new age vacation rentals.
In the summer of 2021 County Council directed staff to begin a special project involving the study of STR policies and regulations with the intent of implementing a STR management program to be in effect County wide and enforced by the County. On July 28th, 2021 County Council directed staff to engage a third party to undertake this review and development of draft Policies & Regulations for Short-Term Rentals in the County. Subsequently, J.L. Richards & Associates Ltd. (JLR) was retained for this project.
JLR presented the Background Report to County Council at the May 25, 2022, Council Meeting. The Background Report provided an overview of legislative context at various levels for STR regulation, academic research on STRs, precedent review and the results of the community survey which received approximately 1500 responses over a period of three weeks from April 3, 2022, to April 25, 2022.
County Council received the report and provided direction to include additional municipalities with a rural focus in the precedent review and seek input from municipalities who have short term rental regulations in place to understand their experience with regulation. Additionally, County Council directed JLR to provide enforcement options as it related to rules, by-laws, zoning and associated fees.
JLR presented the Options Report to County Council at the August 10, 2022 Council Meeting. The Options Report expanded upon the direction provided by Council at the previous meeting and gave an overview of the STR regulations in rural municipalities. The options for regulations, based on precedent and literature review were also provided to County Council during this meeting. County Council directed JLR to review the implementation of Municipal Accommodation Tax in further detail and present the draft policy framework for regulation of STRs in the County.
On October 26th, 2022, Haliburton County Council directed staff to incorporate the recommendations of its consultant JL Richards and the amendments provided by County Council as they pertain to the regulation and licensing of Short-Term Rentals (STRs); and to bring revised by-laws to a meeting of Council prior to the end of 2022.
At its January 25, 2023 Regular Council Meeting, County Council considered a staff report titled Haliburton Short Term Rental Study Update then directed the Clerk to schedule a Special Council Meeting wherein it could discuss further refinements to the draft STR Registration and Licensing By-laws.
At a Special County Meeting held on February 27, 2023, County Council considered Planning Report PLN20-2023 entitled Haliburton Short Term Rental Study By-law Refinements. After considerable discussion, County County directed staff to obtain a legal opinion on the functionality of the two proposed by-laws (i.e. Registration By-law and Licensing By-law).
Short-Term Rental Review Update
It is anticipated that the legal opinion will be considered by County Council at its Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for May 10, 2023 at 9:00 am.
Study documents and reports can be made available upon request.
