Letting the air out of Airbnb? One northern Ontario city looks at new rules for short-term rentals

One northern Ontario city is looking at bringing in new rules for short-term rental services like Airbnb.

Sault Ste. Marie is considering limiting each Airbnb owner to one property — which has to be attached to their primary residence.

Also on the list of proposed regulations is requiring operators to be licensed and only allowing them to rent out their units for 180 days a year. 

No decisions have been made yet, and the city is about to launch a round of public consultations.

Luke Dufour, a Sault Ste. Marie city councillor, worries that without a bylaw, too many apartments and houses will be used for tourists instead of giving local people an affordable place to live. 

"I just don't think it makes for a healthy neighbourhood ecosystem," he says.

"I have had feedback from neighbours who have had bad experiences with whole houses being used in their neighbourhood for Airbnb."

Dufour says the city also wants to make sure these short-term rentals don't have an unfair advantage over hotels and motels.

"I don't think that that should be the dominant option available."

About a dozen Airbnb units are available in Sault Ste. Marie, and one of them is owned by Shelly Gauthier and her husband Tom.

They've had success renting it out to tourists, locals coming home for a visit and people working for a short time in the Sault.

They recently bought a second house they plan to list on the Airbnb site as well.

Gauthier says she's looking forward to the public consultations and a discussion of how this new kind of tourism business could be regulated.

She says if she is restricted to only one unit, she would stick with Airbnb, but might give up on the Sault.

"The bottomline is we would sell it and just relocate somewhere we can grow a business," says Gauthier, who moved to the Sault five years ago. 

"I'm really enjoying living in Sault Ste. Marie, but if restrictions force me out of the market, I have to reconsider my options."

Jennifer Keast and her husband have an Airbnb unit in a building in Sudbury's west end that also houses their business and home.

She said they rented out the apartment a few years ago and had to go to the provincial landlord-tenant board to get rid of a problem tenant.

"Eighteen months and $10,000 before we got the eviction order. Our first and last tenant," says Keast.

She said the Airbnb system acts as "insurance" for property owners, and even if Sudbury brought in regulations, she would stick with it.

"Coming from a bad experience as a landlord, I would still do it this way," says Keast, who is considering using a duplex unit she owns as an Airbnb property as well.  

Sault Ste. Marie is also looking to charge Airnb owners the four per cent accommodation tax already paid by hotels and motels.

Airbnb already pays that tax on behalf of its members in many other Ontario cities, including Greater Sudbury. 

David MacLachlan, executive director of tourism industry group Destination Northern Ontario, said most hotel owners are happy to see a level playing field when it comes to taxes.

He said more and more, the travel sector is seeing short-term rental services as part of the industry rather than unwelcome competitors. 

"People vote with their feet right? You know, this is how people are deciding to travel and it's probably best we get on top of it and understand things change and we need to work within that."