April 2019
Some condo owners feel they have the right to rent out their home to tourists seeking cheap accommodation. Others want to avoid living in buildings being turned into hotels with low vacancy rates and high rent. They oppose the loss of local businesses and job loss that comes as local businesses struggle and business taxes disappear.
Renting at $115 to $150 a night is more profitable than traditional tenants that pay monthly. This explains why so many are willing to turn their condo home into a hotel and offer hotel-like amenities paid for by others. It becomes easy to ignore condo rules prohibiting short-term rentals that condo boards seem incapable of enforcing while forcing others to subsidize these rentals.
The city is getting nearer to enacting regulations that would prevent this from happening.
So many have purchased condos for the sole purpose of short-term rentals that condo living in some buildings is diminished. Condo homes are dark when not rented. When rented the community is overrun with tourists. Tourists don’t frequent local establishments popular with residents so businesses important to the community disappear. Jobs disappear along with business taxes as stores close.
Short-term rentals are unlikely to be as profitable once Toronto implements regulations to protect its communities.
