Short Term Rentals

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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

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).

Draft Short-Term Rental By-law Update for 2024

At its November 22, 2023 Meeting, County Council considered Report PLN-67-2023 entitled Short Term Rentals Update for November 2023.

(see related documents: Short Term Rentals Update for November 2023.pdf and Modified By-law further modified for November 22 2023.docx).

Since then, County and Municipal staff have been working closely together to further refine the draft STR By-law.

(see related document: Municipal Working Copy of the STR By-law as of January 17 2024 - commercial insurance reference deleted.docx ).

Refinements undertaken by the municipal staff working group include:

  1. correction to the Ontario Building Code definitions for building and structure.
  2. correction of grammatical and typographical errors.
  3. deletion of the reference to commercial liability insurance.
  4. addition of references to the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT).
  5. corrections to the numerical references within the Section 15 Demerit Points table.

At its January 24, 2024 meeting, County Council considered Report PLN-03-2024 entitled Results of the Short-Term Rental (STR) Monitoring and Compliance Solution Request for Proposal (RFP).

(see related document: Results of the Short-Term Rental (STR) Monitoring and Compliance Solution Request for Proposal (RFP).pdf).

Next steps in this project involve the meeting of the four municipal CAOs and the County's CAO in February wherein an implementation strategy for the STR By-law will be developed for the consideration of the four municipal councils and County Council later in 2024.

Page published: 25 Jan 2024, 06:50 AM