West Nipissing Wants to Limit Short-Term Rentals

A summary of the 13-page bylaw that will attempt to eliminate the AirBnB industry in WN.

West Nipissing council has drafted a bylaw to regulate short term rentals in the region. I reviewed the 13 page draft bylaw and will outline the key aspects that make this new bylaw extremely restrictive for a community like West Nipissing.

Licences Will Be Required

In order to rent your sleep camp or spare bedroom a couple times per year, you will need a licence. To receive a licence, you must submit a premises and interior site plan as well as proof of commercial insurance and proof of an adequate septic system.

Cost

The costs of a licence has not been disclosed yet but it appears like West Nipissing is replicating a recently passed bylaw in North Bay which charges residents $600 to operate an AirBnB plus a $275 annual renewal fee.

Anyone wanting to operate an AirBnB will also have to get commercial liability insurance which could cost another $1,000 per year. Considering that most platforms such as Airbnb.ca already offer (and charge for) contingent insurance if something happens when you rent your house, this additional requirement is unnecessary and just a burden to attempt to discourage the practice.

Inspections

In order to be approved to get a licence, the municipality will conduct a site inspection of any premises that want to operate a short-term rental.

Septic

What makes this new bylaw particularly restrictive for West Nipissing citizens is that the municipality will require anyone on a septic to update their system to a capacity that can support a commercial operation which could burden them for tens of thousands of dollars.

The bylaw states:

Applicant will be required to provide proof, in the form of a ‘valid permit of record’ provided by the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority of an installed septic system and its capacity that will support commercial rental premises.

In order to satisfy this requirement, most homeowners may have to triple their septic size to one of commercial capacity. A quick search on Airbnb.ca shows that the majority of current listing in West Nipissing are in areas that are on septic systems.

Again, this is an unnecessary requirement that will make attaining almost impossible for most homeowners. Short-term rental hosts rarely rent out their homes for more than 30 days in a year and don’t typically add any usage to their septic systems (beyond what they would normally use).

This requirement may also make any off-grid cabin or yurt operations exclusively illegal in West Nipissing as it would be unfeasible to install a modern septic system in remote areas.

Enforcement

In the last year, staff have told council that human resources are stretched in the municipality. Especially when it comes to enforcing bylaws. So how will the municipality all-of-a-sudden start policing this?

A quick search of Airbnb.ca reveals 88 properties listed in West Nipissing. This doesn’t account for other short-term rental websites such as VRBO.

North Bay implemented their short-term rental bylaw in January. But according to the city’s planning manager, only a handful of citizens have applied for a licence. There are hundreds of Airbnb listing in North Bay but only a fraction are following the overly restrictive rules. This is likely to occur in West Nipissing as well. Which will make it incredibly difficult for staff to enforce these rules in a fair manner. For example, staff may spend time making sure Bob (who has paid for a licence) is conforming with every single rule while the 90% who just ignored the policy can keep operating freely. Or for example staff could choose to enforce their rules on anyone of the dozens of homeowners operating on Airbnb while looking the other way for others.

Justification

One justification that people have had in larger cities for regulating short-term rentals is that AirBnBs take away from rental apartments which are heavily needed across the country. But that is definitely not the case in West Nipissing. Our AirBnB industry is not made up of condo units or apartments that can be rented to families year-round. It is made up of sleep camps, cabins and chalets on the water. Among the 88 properties listed on AirBnB right now, there are very few that could conceivably be converted to a family rental if the owner was forced to do so with this new bylaw. This bylaw will not add to the rental market. It will just mean less accomodations available in West Nipissing and dozens of homeowners with less disposable income to spend.

Suggestions

It appears council is not really seeking input on this. Although they set up a single public consultation, they only allowed comments to be received for a very short window which has already closed.

This does not stop WN citizens from voicing their concerns before council votes on this legislation in the coming weeks. West Nipissing has always relied on tourism and this type of policy risks putting this industry in jeopardy.

I would suggest that we DO NOT need a new costly and restrictive bylaw. Short-term rentals have operated for decades without a bylaw to police them. If council insists on a bylaw, I would suggest that casual short-term rental hosts be accommodated better. Anyone who owns their home should be allowed to rent it up to 60 days a year without having to face licence requirements. It’s their home. If they aren’t running a commercial operation, leave them alone. West Nipissing doesn’t need overly restrictive rules.

If your neighbour is making too much noise, we already have a bylaw for that… If your neighbour is not following parking rules, we have a bylaw for that… If your neighbour is ignoring environmental rules, we have laws for that…

We do not need to penalize 99% of WN citizens just because of one or two bad apples. 99% of short-term operators are not running hotels or commercial operations. They should not be expected to follow the same rules. Homeowners trying to make extra cash while renting their spare bedroom likely impacts large multinational hotel chains. That is why hotel associations have been leading the charge to regulate (or outlaw) these practices in Canada. But that is the nature of a free market. Let property owners be responsible for their own properties.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

The West Nip Voice is a regular newsletter covering issues in West Nipissing and the surrounding area. Please consider becoming a subscriber.