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You’ve got to live on the property you rent, city council told Airbnb hosts Tuesday night.
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Starting Oct. 1, city hall will begin regulating short-term online rentals, including a controversial new rule that limits those to a person’s own home. If you want to rent out a house on Airbnb or VRBO, you’ve got to live there most of the time.
The decisive 12-2 vote came despite intense opposition from existing Airbnb hosts and owners of additional properties used to generate income through short-term rentals.
“I’m not happy to cause this pain for some people. But . . . we enact legislation all the time that has an effect on people,” Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy said.
What began as a mission to address neighbourhood nuisances when council first debated the idea of regulating the industry – including raucous party houses with a revolving door of guests – has since turned into a bid to tackle the loss of long-term housing units that are converted into mini hotels, several councillors said.
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“This has been a long time coming. It has been many, many, many years,” Ward 2 Coun. Lewis said.
Those who bought property or made their livelihood from the so-called “short-term accommodations” did nothing wrong, he said, but they began working in “a regulatory void” and now the rules are catching up.
City staff confirmed cities across Ontario have implemented similar rules for Airbnb, including Toronto, Windsor and Sarnia.
There are more than 600 short-term rental units available in London, according to previous city staff reports. Roughly two-thirds are an entire home, and the remainder are a room or a unit within a…