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Same story from CBC:
Couldnāt read the Business Insider article, but I DID note a headline for another one about a Canadian tourist who cancelled a $7,000(!) Airbnb reservation in the United States because of Trumpās tariffs and his talk of annexing Canada to the United States:
I donāt understand. How does allowing hosts to rent their places only in three summer months create āaffordable housingā?
Who is looking for housing that they can only rent for nine months?
However:
According to the city, more than half of roughly 4,000 units currently available on the short-term rental market are illegal. The changes could therefore free up 2,000 units to the long-term rental market.
If the city only allows STRs that are legal, wouldnāt it be better to simply close them down?
If the goal is to make $xxx a year in LTR, then STR-ing for 3 months should make that goal, or near. The other 9 months can be family /friends. Never understood the āSTRS take away affordableāā¦
Students for one. Iām sure there are other examples.
But I think this will more or less make strs go away almost entirely in Montreal.
??? It seems dead simple to understand. If entire houses are used exclusively for strs, there are less houses that are available at affordable rent for locals who need housing.
An interesting assumption. What makes one assume that the house would be āaffordableā and be ārentedā? Both assumptions would be the LAST things I would do if I had to change over.
Oh, come on, Rolf. Obviously one can charge more for an str than a long term rental. And if a bunch of houses are being used exclusively for strs where there is a shortage of housing for locals, if regs dictate that they have to switch to long term tenancies, there will suddenly be a lot of housing available for locals who live and work in the area. If those landlords try to charge outrageous rents that the average person canāt afford, their places will sit empty, and they wonāt be making any money at all.
Just as strs that are overpriced compared to similar listings in an area are not going to get booked as much as those that are less expensive.
All this is Supply and Demand 101.
I totally understand people not wanting to do long term rentals- a lot of str hosts who used to be landlords switched to str because having long term tenants was a huge hassle, with tenants not paying rent on time, trashing places, and having to deal with landlord/tenant laws that are tenant-friendly and making it a big PITA to evict bad tenants. (Of course, some tenants are great and appreciated by their landlords)
I donāt think there are many people who can afford to leave a house they own just sitting vacant, though, nor have enough āfriends and familyā who would want to stay there enough to cover fixed costs. Especially in a place like Montreal, where you couldnāt just turn the heat off in the winter- the water pipes would freeze and burst.
Also, vacant homes are prone to be vandalized or have squatters move in.
I would expect a lot of str hosts who are severely affected by this kind of legislation to put the place up for sale.
This kind of regulation that Montreal has brought in makes little sense, aside from it likely leading to these strs ceasing to do str business at all, even in the summer. Which would lead to more year-round housing for locals, which I do support in areas where affordable housing is scarce.
It seems to me like they just were overwhelmed, or didnāt want to deal with trying to crack down on license-less rentals, so decided to just make all strs illegal outside of 3 months a year.
But they also havenāt seemed to make any distinction between entire house strs and private room/guest house situations, where the hosts would never switch to a landlord/tenant scenario, no matter what. Barring these hosts from doing strs year-round makes no sense, as it has zero bearing on freeing up affordable housing for locals.
You might be surprised. Before Vrbo/AirBnB got really popular, people buying a second home didnāt count on renting it out to afford it.
When we bought our second home, I made sure we could afford it even if we didnāt rent it out.
Our countryās current administration has threatened to prohibit foreigners from renting out their homes. They think that will cause the foreigners to sell the houses cheap to locals and then the locals will make the money renting it.
In reality, most of the owners will come visit a few times a year but fire the staff that works for them taking care of guests. Thatās what we would do. Itās typical - the government thinks differently than the people that the laws impact.
Similar situation close to me at Byron Bay.
Unhosted STR is now limited to 60 nights a year.
This was pushed for by the local town council. No where for local workers / family to liveā¦the fall out is very interesting to watch
Thatās a completely different situation, though. Like you said, you and others bought second vacation homes because you could afford to do so, without any thought of renting it out, even if you did end up using it for str down the road. Just like a guest room was part of my new house construction, with no thought of renting it out- it was originally intended for family and friends.
That isnāt anything like people who purchased homes with the sole intent of using them for strs.
So what is happening?
Tell us moreā¦
202020202020
There used to be over 3000 listings in the Byron Bay Area, today - only 15 pages and all of these high end and looking like they have made development applications to council.
The number of ex Airbnb items on marketplace is mind boggling
Iām just wondering if others have had the same experience as meā¦
Hosting STR and LTR has worked out to be about the same financially for me, after savings on cleaning, arrival treats, laundry etc.
Iāve only done LTR on my Canadian house for 5 years, when I was establishing myself in Mexico before I sold the Canadian house, so itās hard to compare financially to my str private room homeshare in Mexico.
But I would think that what you have experienced is more or less true, especially if you get the kind of long term tenants who are capable of maintaining things and donāt bother landlords with small repairs, looking after that sort of thing themselves. (i.e. toilet needs a new flapper, bedroom needs a fresh coat of paint).
Also itās not just hard expenses to take into consideration- there is also oneās time to account for. Fielding requests and inquiries, messaging with guests, keeping the calendar and listing up-to-date, dealing with guests while in residence, if you add up your time and assign a reasonable per hour charge, that also adds to str expenses.
Whereas a hassle-free long term tenant requires virtually no time at all, aside from renegotiating the lease if they want to stay on.
So true. It bothers me that these cities that believe that hosts are mostly illegal and that they are only money-grabbers and that by preventing STR it will create this ālow cost housing for localsā.
Itās almost as though itās a knee-jerk reaction to a housing problem when itās only a minor factor. (Here, anyway).
āLetās get rid of all these short term rental landlords who are making a ton of money for doing nothing, then locals can rent these placesā seems to be the attitude and a very simplistic view.
Illegal hosts are probably in it for the money believing it to be easy money. (Which we all know it isnāt). So, as I said before, the city should concentrate not on legal hosts who are simply doing this as a job and concentrate their energies towards getting rid of the illegal hosts.
This is good for genuine hosts, good for the cities as it reduces SRT, good for the local economy and good for the guests as genuine hosts usually provide a better experience than those who are flying under the radar and ātrying Airbnbā.
the Canadian govāt vowed to get rid of str and did so in BC- and is placing huge demands on other provinces- 2 inspections each year, tons of rules, license fees- making it not worth it. They like to blame STR on their lack of housing, red tape on building new housing, mass immigration taxing the housing market, foreign investors using housing as money laundering activities and huge corporations buying up swaths of housing. STR people have become the scapegoat for the govātās lack of planning.
Iām in BCā¦ are your inspections municipal? I donāt think thatās in either the federal or the provincial requirements.
The license application was a pain, but mostly itās paperwork to prove itās your principal residence and you are licensed with your municipality (if itās required where you live).