Ottawa city council has approved new regulations to govern short-term rentals across the over the next three years.
The city says the new Short-term Rental By-law establishes a host permit system for local short-term rental properties, as well as rules for short-term rental platforms and property managers.
To protect housing inventory for Ottawa residents, the by-law restricts short-term rentals to principal residences in urban residential zones and rural villages. Operators will need host permits proving the rental property is their principal residence.
Some properties that are not a host’s principal residence would be permitted, but only in certain rural areas. Such properties would be defined separately as cottage rentals.
In line with a strategy adopted in November 2019, the new by-law also addresses community nuisance issues and concerns around public health and safety. Violations of the by-law could result in fines for both guests and host of up to $100,000 each day that an offence occurs. In addition, the city could suspend or revoke a host permit for violating the by-law.
Council approved changes to the municipal housing benefit programs that provide rent subsidies either directly to a landlord or as a housing allowance paid to a household. These programs are at capacity, and the approved changes will reallocate more than $2.3 million from other municipal housing programs and provincial funding programs, enabling the city to continue funding current recipients and take on new applicants.
The changes approved also include updating the housing allowance framework to be consistent with current provincial housing benefits. With that change, new recipients of municipal housing benefits will be better able to afford the costs associated with securing and maintaining an affordable home in the private rental market.
Staff will also work on creating a small business property tax subclass that could provide a 10-per-cent tax discount for about 4,700 commercial properties in Ottawa that house roughly 7,800 small businesses. The discount would be offset by an increase of 0.68 per cent for 7,300 large commercial and industrial properties. Staff will consult and report back with final recommendations by the end of the third quarter.