Cathy Dobson
A homeowner whose complaint helped trigger Sarnia’s effort to regulate short-term rental housing is relieved the city is going back to the drawing board.
“We’re glad it’s deferred,” said Carol Chudy. “This gives us another chance for input.”
Chudy and her husband are alarmed by the number of single residential houses used as boarding houses, particularly by Lambton College students.
“The problem is you can have a revolving door of strangers, some that are good neighbours and others that aren’t,” said Chudy.
More recent concerns that Airbnb and other short-term rentals are eroding residential housing stock and creating “ghost hotels” prompted a staff report last week with long list of recommended regulations.
But council, after a lengthy debate on Feb. 10, largely rejected those recommendations.
Councillors did agree to licence accommodation rented out for less than 30 days at a time. The first licence, costing $370, will include a property standards and fire inspection. Annual renewal will cost $325.
They also voted to add a new Municipal Accommodation Tax to the bill of anyone staying at a short-term rental, starting this spring.
However, councillors couldn’t agree on rules for zoning, parking and whether a short-term rental home must be occupied by its owner.
Even the number of short-term rentals Sarnia has was disputed. Staff suggested 70 to 100 houses with 120-150 rooms are available, while others said the number is much higher.
As a result, a new committee comprised of all councillors will be struck to hammer out solutions.
“I hope communication with the operators is better this time,” said Dr. Robert Dickieson, a veterinarian who rents out two homes, including his own.
“City staff have not been empathetic with short-term rental operators,” he told council.
A poorly attended open house didn’t go well for the operators, Dickieson said. “We weren’t consulted. It was being told.”
Rather than a set of regulations tailored to Sarnia, staff was interested only in what larger municipalities are doing, he said.
Dickieson said his strategy of buying homes in poor repair and fixing them up for short-term rental not only doesn’t destroy neighbourhoods, as staff suggested, it improves them.
He urged council to reject much of the report.
“This is a non-issue in Sarnia,” he said.
Dan Butts and Lisa Maola, who own six houses they rent short-term and long-term, said Sarnia should gather 12 months of data before making any decisions.
Typically, their homes rent for four-to-five day periods in summer and longer periods in winter. Complaints are virtually non-existent, said Butts.
“I think there should be a set of rules for houses that are owner occupied, and another set of rules for non-owner occupied,” said Maola.
“In Sarnia, we are hosts, not ghosts,” she said. “We are not introducing people willy-nilly into Sarnia that do bad things.”