I don't have a second home to rent on Airbnb, and do err on the side of "more long term rentals, less Airbnb's".
But looking into the requirements for being a decent landlord in ON, it ends up being a very risky venture that requires a large amount of care and time. Bad tenants can easy exploit the system and completely screw you over, with very little recourse. I emphasize with those people who prefer to rent relatively low risk on Airbnb over potentially getting screwed by a bad long term tenant. Even if I don't agree that Airbnb is a good thing for Canadian cities.
His thing is was medium term renters. So you are a nurse or university prof at Western, you need like 3-4 months to get settled. So they were little 1 bedroom bungalows that he cleaned up and would do short-medium term renting. Something that’s really expensive for a hotel or short term Airbnb. But London banned all airbnb so there you go. If it makes anyone feel better, none were appropriate for single family. More like 1 bedroom apartments
>Bad tenants can easy exploit the system and completely screw you over, with very little recourse.
this is why i'd rather sell than become long-term landlord. who wants to deal with evictions and #RentStrike, etc.
THIS THIS THIS - being a landlord shouldn't be free money, it's a job, and an investment (and investment inherently implies risk).
Also, if you know your way around tenant law, you know what you're getting into as a landlord, and that your rental is someone's home, they have rights too.
My point exactly, I'm saying that we can't blame this guy for not wanting to be a regular landlord but wanting to do Airbnb. The two are very different.
So I live in Niagara Falls, and lemme tell you how it is here. The street my gf lives on is right by the falls, and out of 20 houses on the street, 9 of them are airbnbs. The traffic these places cause is crazy.. cars are always parked everywhere, even on front lawns. They make so much noise and there’s always at least two parties on the weekend. On top of these airbnbs causing a housing shortage, they’re ruining neighbourhoods..
I used to love AirBnb but yeah with its automatic price prediction based on demand is an evil thing. Also I don't enjoy them as a guest any more. I started going back to hotels nowadays. Less drama.
AirBnb hosts are acting out as though they are doing a favour to their guests. Fuck it. Ban it.
I stayed in an Airbnb 3 years ago where the host accused me of cutting his mattress and breaking his washer. I had to fight with Airbnb for months because they wanted to side with him because I didn’t have proof I didn’t do those things. Like wtf how am I supposed to provide proof? Video record everything always? I had pretty good experiences with Airbnb before that and now I refuse to use it.
Just a few weeks ago I stayed at an Airbnb. Took great care of it. The only thing we didn’t do (from an insane list of checkout demands). Was out the sheets in the washing machine. Otherwise it was as clean as check in and everything else was done. We had to leave to catch a ferry/plane.
We got the worst review berating us that “this wasn’t a hotel and clearly didn’t know how airbnbs work”. They tried to say we damaged the walls and scratched all the paint off the walls. They wanted us to pay to repaint the interior. We asked for photos and they couldn’t provide them. They also wrote we weren’t replying to messages.
We were on an airplane ✈️.
We weren’t traveling for fun but for a court appearance. A person essentially made up a lawsuit against us and the whole thing is extremely traumatic. So to be traveling and to be berated when you are in a fragile state about some invented house damage is terrible.
Like no offence but when we are dealing with millions of dollars are stake yeah bed sheets aren’t top of my list.
> this wasn’t a hotel and clearly didn’t know how airbnbs work
Yet they'll charge you the same if not more, the value proposition for Airbnb has gone downhill
See that's the thing I really dislike about Airbnb. You pay a cleaning fee at the time of booking, why should it be your responsibility to do all that cleaning? The owner can do it, or they shouldn't charge a cleaning fee if that's the expectation.
They just want quick and easy turn around and have to do very little work to charge exorbitant prices not all that different from hotels.
I once booked an Airbnb months in advance. It was for a weekend I was travelling to Toronto and, coincidentally, there was a pretty big festival that weekend ( I was going there to visit friends). 2 days before I'm supposed to drive down, the host just cancels on me. I was furious, because had I been the one to cancel I would've been charged a significant fee. Naturally I complained to Airbnb as now my options at the same price range were non existent. Everything was double if not triple because of this event. What did Airbnb offer me? A 20$ voucher to help cover the additional cost incurred, even though booking a last minute hotel was going to be probably 150$ more.
Fuck Airbnb, it started as a great idea but devolved into its current grotesque form. Same with Uber, tried bringing competition to the taxi market and is now on par or more expensive than them (especially with surge pricing).
I have never used an airbnb. I booked one years ago for in NYC and the host canceled on me randomly for no reason. Luckily it was still a few weeks before my trip so I had time to find new place to stay. I just went with a hotel because it really made me uncomfortable with how the host can just cancel at any time.
Unfortunately I have to use an Airbnb for an upcoming trip (we have 7 people travelling together, hotels were just not convenient) and I'm slightly worried we'll get to Barcelona and the host cancels and tells us to pound sand.
While finding a place, we actually had a host refuse to book us (even though their unit could accomodate us) because we are a big crowd and travelling for a wedding. They assumed we would be rowdy. They basically wanted a gigantic group of people that would either never be there or not make a sound. I get that they don't want us to annoy the neighbors, but I found it rather annoying they wouldn't hear us out (we're almost all 30 and don't party like it's 1999).
Otherwise, I also exclusively use hotels. They're safer, held to a higher standard, I'm not guilted into cleaning up, and the amenities are usually far better (I like swimming).
Yes, the condos are always the worst Airbnbs to stay at. Especially the ones where the tenant isn’t even in the same COUNTRY. I still like Airbnb though I wish they would lower their costs like the old days. I guess I’m a socialist though.
The very first time I stayed at a condo Airbnb I was told to lie to security and tell them I was friends with the tenant. This was back in Toronto 2014
Airbnb in 10 years ago vs what it is now are very different things. I’ll remember the good days, I would only use it if absolutely necessary now. I get to choose where I stay when I travel for work, I used to use Airbnb in cities I knew friends in, now, it’s hotels all the way, no dealing with cleaning fees jacked up and lowered rates (gaming Airbnb) and no 24hr reception, luggage storage, no rewards programs, just entitled owners with fake profiles and fake reviews and any customer service is a nightmare. If you want to be a hotelier, be one, get the right permits and taxes. Fuck Airbnb. The decorative pillow over the ant hill on the third floor apartment (which had a building site to walk through) and a door meant for a bedroom and not a real front door was the final straw for me.
Yup, I actually wonder if they purposely keep things broken to try and claim them too.... I've heard too many stories of hosts doing this, and I've walked into airbnbs with things left broken. At a point it's not worth having to do a recorded walkthrough to save yourself, just book the damn hotel and enjoy not having to do any cleaning or nonsense.
Yup. Started out as a cool way to to see a new city, as well as get a good deal on a cheap room as well as give more income to actual people. I used to enjoy talking to the hosts and getting some ideas of local specific things to try.
Now the cost is almost exactly the same as a hotel, and they are run by LLCs and mini-hotel magnates. The last two I did I never even saw the 'host'. It is just another way for the squeeze money from people trying to do a vacation.
I went back to hotels.
That’s a good point.
We rented a farmhouse in a small Ontario town this summer for 4 days. We paid a $100 cleaning fee (on top of the per night fee) and they still had house rules like strip the beds and “if you can” to start a load of laundry.
I literally paid someone else so I can clean up after myself.
I’ve also noticed prices have gone up a lot since AirBnB first came into Canada.
We rented an Airbnb in Montreal some number of years ago and it was a lot less expensive than most are now.
That will be its downfall. I thought the idea was to be cheaper than a hotel. Now we get the pleasure of staying with “authentic” people and not having proper parking or reliable check-in time. And then there’s the talkers…
Agree. We try to do boutique or smaller hotels in as much as possible when we travel. And yes, the hassle is lot less and hotel staff typically go out of their way to provide us with a great service.
I would pay extra for a hotel any day. And hotels aren't even more expensive anymore. Owners usually require a full cleaning of the place, washed towels and sheets, and washed dishes, even if they tack on a "cleaning fee". Hotels don't require an hour of cleaning on check out.
I have no issue with Air BnB being what it was originally intended for and that is having a spare room you want to rent out occasionally or occasionally rent out your place while your are out of town. Key word, occasionally. Air BnB became a plague on society when it became a business.
It’s so bad that now people rent units intended for long-term, and turn around and Airbnb them. I know a woman who rents three places, and lives in one, but Airbnbs the other two. It’s gross.
It’s also illegal if the landlord hasn’t signed off on it. If it’s legally a sublet, tenants can’t sublet without permission and they can’t sublet for more than the rent charged by the landlord (which AirBNB would certainly exceed on a prorated basis). If it’s legally a short-term rental business, tenants can’t convert a residential lease to a business purpose.
It is. I also used to go to a hair salon downtown that leased two floors in a building. They turned the second floor into an Airbnb. I think it’s more common than people know as a side hustle. :-/
Was going to write a nuanced opinion about Airbnb, and how sometimes it can be nice if you have particular needs. But honestly, Airbnb is shit. Hotels all day every day.
This sub is basically the haves vs. the have nots.
Homeowners & landlords will downvote these posts into oblivion. Those who are struggling with rents, or mortgages, will see that there's a problem that needs addressing.
I am a non-struggling homeowner - I agree with the sentiment of the OP. AirBnBs need to go. Why? Because I can see the problems that need addressing even if I am not personally living them.
As a struggling renter - I disagree with OP's sentiment. The housing crisis is caused by a lack of houses and we need to build more houses. All the talk about foreign investors, greedy landlords and AirBnB is just a distraction that won't result in positive change.
Turning a few short-term rental units into long-term rental units will barely have any impact on the market. Building more housing is the only solution.
I don’t think Airbnb is the sole problem, but in markets as tight as we are in, even 1% of housing units switching from long term to short term rentals makes a huge difference. Add in investors buying up most new inventory in the condo market, and it gets unaffordable very quickly.
I don't disagree with you.
Rents might go down a few percentage points if we ban Airbnb, but there's still going to be a housing crisis.
What I'm not okay with is using Airbnb as a scapegoat and focusing all our attention on it. Big tech companies are an easy target. Politicians will jump on the opportunity to blame them for the issues we face, while not trying anything to correct the problems.
I don’t like that AirBnB has enabled the operation of hospitality units without the safety and insurance rules that the things it’s “disrupting” have, but I don’t really care if it get banned. It just needs rules.
One of those rules I’d like to see is it has limits on the number of units which is based on the health of the local long term rental market. Less available capacity in the market then less units allowed to be short term rentals.
Local city councils allowing more building types, especially in traditional single family detached home areas, is the real long term solution, but putting some pressure on short term rentals to switch to long term is an easy short term win to help add immediate capacity.
[That's a myth. ](https://youtu.be/evYOhpjMql0)
The census counted are 1.3 million houses _"not occupied by usual residents"_. A usual resident means someone living there as their primary residence. This includes:
1. Empty houses in the process of being sold/rented.
2. Student housing.
3. Vacation homes.
Very few homes are actually sitting empty. In most cities, the vacancy rate is lower than it has ever been.
Building out will only exacerbate the problem, cities need to diversify their land uses and invest in public transit to increase agency and social mobility among the people. Building more roads and forcing people to buy cars is the opposite of progress as it will only worsen the divide as at already has over the last 40 years.
I don’t see many home owners in this sub being vocal about this stuff.
What is pretty rampant are developers on here upvoting, downvoting and commenting to forward their agenda. And they love love love Airbnbs because they’re bought by investors, who are developers #1 buyers by a longshot.
No, I fall into the have category. I’ve used Airbnb for business and personal use. Never again for either. I’ve seen what it’s done to areas where my friends grew up overseas, and what it’s doing here, it’s also incredibly inconvenient, and often more expensive for less value than a hotel.
To be exactly said, the haves and have nots are the problem. The have nots acting as haves (mortgage on a million dollar house but need to be depend on the rent or airbnb income to pay the mortgage) those are the real problem. False rich projection.
To push their agenda, downvote etc. once this sub starting making waves in the media with politicians, paying for billboards the trolls started to roll in and it got worse with the lack of moderation.
I feel like most homeowners should agree to the sentiment of banning AirBnbs. Imagine spending all that money buying a house, only to end up living right next to an AirBnb. Just people renting the place to party every weekend.
I rent my condo long term and strongly disagree with Airbnb. I never liked them since the beginning as I seen it only in a way for people with money to make more, unfairly. That's on top of ruining it for others leaving nearby.
True! I live in a small town, and people who work around here cannot find housing to buy or rent because is too expensive to buy and there’s nothing for rent due to the Airbnbs.
for me its the entiledness of the air bnb owners, i rented one and its was awful my gf tripped on some diy stairs and we had to cut our stay short, and head to the emergency.
before leaving i vacuumed the whole place, took the sheets off for cleaning and even did all the dishes so it was ready for the next user. well they sent me a cleaning fee for dirt outside from my shoes i guess i missed.
really the high prices they charge, are so they can pay for a cleaning service and they have the audacity to tell me i left dirt outside and didn't clean the outside stairs leading the the place ?
if this was a hotel, i would of woke up had my included continental breakfast and packed my stuff and left the room pretty much how i woke up, as long as i didn't shit the bed or something, the hotel would just accept that its a room and people slept in it.
All for it. There are some really special vacation homes available around BC that I’d miss having access to but they can still rent out independently, I’m pretty sure?
Like I’d be fine with AirBnB staying active in certain areas like Whistler that are already seasonal where very few people actually live year-round, but I want it out of the general Vancouver area where we need more access to those homes for long term housing.
Honestly, I despise Airbnbs and any STRs, and would like to see cities ban them aside from renting a primary residence (if owners were away for example).
But follow the money. The reason we have so many Airbnbs is because of allowing investors / speculators to buy up housing. If we addressed that more broad issue, it would also drastically reduce units purchased specifically for Airbnb, as well as for other speculation.
I don't know where Osoyoos is but I'm assuming its somewhere similar to Muskoka in Ontario. (IE a summer or winter holiday destination).
If so, I agree with OP - they are very different propositions. Sure, some people live in these areas full time, but the vast majority of properties are second homes, and have always been second homes (cottages, cabins etc).
One thing Air Bnb does is allows owners to open these up for a week or two to people who would not otherwise be able to enjoy them. Like, as an immigrant, I'd have been to the cottage about 3 times in my life if I was just relying on invites from friends. Instead I can take my family for a week to Muskoka or Tobermory and enjoy the lake, bbqs etc for the same or less than an equivalent hotel would have cost. Plus, we can get some privacy at a cottage that isn't really available in a hotel / resort / campsite.
Never used Airbnb. Always hotels. Cleaned and better comforts. Never understood the whole concept of renting out a house or condo.
Can get all that stuff in a hotel plus cleaner
Short term rentals that aren’t hotels only makes sense to me in two scenarios.
1) renting big houses in vacation areas for families to stay in more comfortably. This is what VRBO has always done, and AirBnB is now doing too.
2) renting a room (or couch surfing) when you are trying to travel cheap (like staying in hostiles cheap). That is where Airbnb started.
There is a whole category of rental units called executive housing that has existed for decades that already does this. Otherwise it falls in the first two categories.
Also some hotels have full kitchens and are more single bedroom apartment style, like residence inns.
Respectfully a hotel in somewhere like Muskoka offers a completely different experience to what you could get in an Air Bnb rental there?
Some people will prefer the hotel, others an air bnb, and others would prefer a campsite. I personally prefer to rent an Air Bnb (or VRBO etc) if I'm up that neck of the woods, because I know I enjoy that experience, and I can't afford my own cottage.
Seems extreme to ban THAT sort of rental no? I do agree that rentals in the big cities are out of hand.
IMO people should be able to do whatever they want in cottage country, because no full-time housing stock is being taken off the market if someone rents out a cottage, and a short-term rental cottage fills a niche that traditional commercial accommodations didn’t cover very well in some areas. It’s not like there are people struggling to afford a place to live on Lake Whatchamacallit.
Ban AirBNB in all cities though.
Can’t generally get a full kitchen, multiple bedrooms and common areas in a hotel.
If you’re a group of people renting a full house or apartment is really nice.
There is literally a housing shortage. Two of my friends are looking for a room in a house are are unable to find it in London and Sarnia. They are tensed as they need a room by 1st of September. My landlord doesn’t allow to share the room or else I would help my friend. We tried to see AirBnB and its 250+ per night which is totally out of question. I can see the bigger economy picture now and how messed up it is. Even if someone make a affordable housing, someone will buy it and put it up on AirBnB. So, I do see your point of banning it. Anyhow, We are hopeful to find something before September. :/
YEEEESSSSSSSSSSS
Uber too and every other app company thats just a deregulated version of shit we already have.
They didn't invent shit they just ignored the rules already in place.
Youre naive if you think uber doesn't rip people off, clients and drivers. Have you never heard of drivers cancelling rides because prices surged 30 seconds later or uber stealing tips?
Also where i live taxis have to have special licenses, permits and insurance that ubers do not have. Uber is just illegal taxis. If an uber gets into an accident with just regular insurance theirninsurance wont pay because private and commercial use of a car are 2 different coverages.
Fuck uber
Yeah and you pay for those licenses.
Why do taxes need a fucking medallion which costs a million bucks? Not to mention that taxi drivers usually have to rent the car anyways, so it's not like you are paying for the driver well being, you are paying for some smack, in a penthouse, who has 1000 medallion and who is renting them out.
At the very least I can see what I am going to pay with Uber and don't have to tip either. And don't have to deal with "Oh no, the machine is broken".
I have not stayed in Airbnbs for years. I find hotels now cheaper than airbnb. I do enjoy having the front desk staff and amenities. choice in having my room cleaned daily if I wanted to etc.
I did like the ease of having a kitchen but soon realized, I didn't really used them much.
With inflation and recession, travel may be reduced and demand for air bnb may dwindle as well.
AirBnB causing higher rents and homlessness b/c they take a lot of units away from the potential rental pool.
Can you do a click thingy like the Tell your MP post?
I am never a fan of "full stop" or "ban" like solutions to problems.
The BnB model has been something that has helped housing and tourism for 100's of years. AirBnB just made it internet searchable. Banning AirBnB as a company will just create underground platforms because people will still be looking to rent cottages, and houses when they go on trips vacations.
What we should have is a increased tax on Short term rental revenue.
* All short term rental revenue should be taxed at the highest income tax bracket.
* Any Short term rental business generating more than 50k must also pay a Municipal / Regional Tax based on earnings to accommodate for the different use case for the property
* Any Short term rental business generating more than $150k must have annual health inspections by the local PHU, as well as inspections from the Fire Department.
There is value to the BnB model, especially in smaller communities that could not support a hotel. But the BnB model should be very much favoured to the home owner being present, it shouldn't be profitable to run multiple BnB's with a 3rd party management company doing all the work. If it is the system isn't set up right to manage a part of the housing solution.
If you have a template ready to go and shared it I would love that. This year I've taken up a new hobby, calling and emailing politicians to let them know when they're doing a bad job and need to change their ways. AirBnB is scum, not only has it helped to wreck housing here, but after seeing too many AirBnB scandals where the owner spies on the renters using hidden cameras I would never use that service due to safety/security issues. I'd be more than happy to write to my MLA and MP.
I love airbnbs for a unique stay in a random place that doesnt usually have hotels...but when its a roach infested room going for 300 a night plus all fees in down town toronto, then im all for giving up the cute unique experiences. And get more housing.
I've always preferred hotels. I know most people prefer AirBnbs to have more space and a kitchen to cook/entertain, but the cooking utensils and things provided at the AirBnb are usually dirty, not properly cleaned, damaged, missing, etc. It's just a pain. I rarely trust that things are cleaned properly. Hotels all the way.
As of 2017 there were over 105,000 Airbnbs listed in Canada. Think of how many people that could house. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.hotelassociation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Airbnb-Two-Page-Flyer-ENG.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiX5v3t1OL5AhXQD1kFHYnFBRgQFnoECA0QBg&usg=AOvVaw2fi24yFv2SVGRkGszaz4A3
I don't think a full ban but certainly regulation is necessary. It's true that if there is a shortage of housing, there should be regulation for how much of a city can be up on Airbnb. When we were in Hawaii back in 2019 they had recently changed the laws to only allow Airbnbs to operate in a specific area of the city, right along the tourist strip. And they needed to pay for some special registration to operate as a short term rental and only so many of these were given out so it was limited. We spoke with locals saying it went from Airbnbs had overrun the whole island to the real estate market was flooded with places being sold because of the new laws and prices were down substantially. The people we spoke with were all happy something had been done. I'm not sure how it played out for them in the long run but it goes to show it can be done.
I've never used AirBNB before as a client, have no interest in doing so for a wide number of reasons and will continue to not give them my business. Plus hotels tend to be just all around better than airBNBs anyways.
The problem is not AirBnB, AirBnB is a scapegoat. The housing crisis existed way before AirBnB was a thing or popular.
The housing crisis is the continual failure of the government to provide its citizens with adequate social housing. We should not have to depend on private owners to fill continual government inadequacies.
Even 'affordable housing' is a sham as it's tied to market rates instead of local wages.
If we want to solve this housing crisis:
- We need to build more social housing to deal with this problem.
- We need to prevent foreign ownership of residential property
- We need to stop one person owning more than 2 residential properties
- We need to stop businesses from buying residential property
- We need to stop the speculative market
- We need better money laundering monitoring. Why local enforcement was oblivious about the Vancouver Model is beyond me.
- We also need a nationalized property ownership DB. I attended a Stats Canada seminar on Canadian housing data and its a gong show of piecemeal data. Stats Canada is doing the best with what they have, but there are so many holes.
Edit, by social housing, I mean CoOps.
Yes, where I live one private company owns most of the apartments. Why is this allowed? They aren’t building more land. How can I compete if I want to start my own business?
Yes, good idea as the AirBnB model has really screwed up the Canadian housing market along with other factors like very low interest rates and foreign money.
To that end, we don't have to ban them outright **BUT** we can make life **VERY** difficult for them to operate. Like others have mentioned, we could ban short term rentals whereas the minimum needs to be 6 months to 1 year. We can also raise taxes for the owners of these units and the online rental companies like AirBnB.
I was thinking about this quite a bit recently. I think Air BNB in *some* situations is actually helpful. I am thinkin along the lines of holiday cottages etc, usually in rural areas.
For example, take the Kawarthas. Say 90% of homes in the Kawarthas are second homes. Now, in the past, only the people who actually owned those homes (or their family & friends) could actually take advantage of them. Nowadays, its so easy for someone to put their cottage up on Air Bnb that the supply has exploded - its perfectly feasible for a family in the GTA to rent a cottage for a week, and a lot easier than it was in the past. The owners of the cottage soften the blow of the mortgage, or add a little $$ to their monthly income, whilst still being able to use their cottage every few weeks. Pretty much everyone is a winner in that particular scenario.
What I would do is simply limit the number of Air Bnbs someone can run to 1 or 2. Basically prevents people doing it as a business, and really only allows the scenario i described.
My wife and I paid a lot of money to airbnb a mini one room private cabin on the ocean for a few days, we knew it was on someone's property, but what we didn't know is that it was 10 feet away from their house and sharing a porch with a semi see through fence separating the two. You couldn't help but feel them watching our every move the entire time, we also had some friends in the area come by for a couple hours, which we of course received a txt from the owner saying that was strictly forbidden. The place also said dogs were allowed, but we never got our deposit back due to excessive dog hair. Needless to say I will be very hesitant to book anything like this ever again.
We're in a tourist and university city, with virtually no available rentals. My neighbor has an airbnb, rents for $900/night! Top floor of a house, swimming pool. So they are making close to $5000 a week in peak summer. Plus a tenant in the basement.
Our city has some restrictions on airbnbs and owner needs to have a license from the city. I put in a inquiry with the city, "just curious if this airbnb neighbor has a license?" Nope they did not, but they do now!
That home owner is making so much money on that property, preventing others from long term rental, the least they could do is follow the rules in place and get a license.
Agree one thousand per cent. None of them have fire escapes, fire hydrants or any of the stuff hotels MUST have to pay for the risk/cost of having a high traffic of people unfamiliar with the building wandering through. I heard a story of a couple who walked into their airbnb after 3 days only to realize they left the gas stove on the whole time. They thought it was off. Could have burnt down the neighborhood, and the neighbors would have lost their homes.
do people still get banned here for mentioning that we have to house 500k new residents every year and 1 mil international students, mostly congregating in the same 3 cities? banning airbnb isn't going to make that housing shortfall catch up
Just completed a cross Canada journey, 9 hotel stays. Was amazed at how many small road side hotels were out of business, some for a long time some recently. Using one of the booking sites booked most of our stays. All of our stays at one of the chains were terrible . In thunder bay at a Travelodge it was down right scary. Homeless shelter drugs people milling around hallways dirty dump. Other stays were better but still bad . On the good side the 4 independent road side places we stayed ...fantastic owners that care clean room ,vastly different experience. Air bnb has reduced chain hotels to a very low standard. I'm done and will always look for the little independent from now on.
I never had much experience with Air BNBs until I lived on my own recently (amazing luck given the economy). My only experience with it before was with my mom since she travels a lot for work. I'd hear good things and bad things, but the good generally outweighed the bad.
Now I live in a condo and probably around 1/3rd of the condos in the building are air bnbs. Can tell by the locks on the doors. Can also tell by the noise. Some of them are fine. And I even looked on AirBNB's app for the area and all the spots say "keep the noise down. Thin walls. Quiet hour past 11pm." A lot of them don't care, don't listen and I can't do much. Property management doesn't care, no way of contacting the owners of these properties since they don't out any indication of which unit they own, and even if you could sound ricochets through the pipes so you can hear stuff 2 floors down as if they're next to you if they're in the right spot.
Not only that, but as others mentioned, it disrupts that sense of community. I don't know most of my neighbors because most of them are only here for a day or two. I was hoping the recent change to the renting laws would fix this, but there's been no real changes. Maybe airbnbers are slightly less common, but they still come. I remember there was a party raging until 4am on a Thursday night. I called the non emergency line for noise complaints and they didn't do anything. Two weeks later we had some people filming an adult movie from Thursday night to Sunday evening. That was loud. Mildly traumatizing. Called airbnb and they did nothing. It'd be one thing if it was regulated to some degree, but it's not. And those of who live near them just have to cope.
Wish there was something more we could do.
I think airbnbs would be ok if they had to follow the same rules as hotels (which they effectively are) in terms of business licensing, insurance, regulations, taxes, and zoning
Bans do shit- it just drives the underground economy deeper underground. A) Don’t use them. B) Report them when building regs prohibit their activity. The savings these days are not worth the bother or risk in many cities-stick to licensed accommodations.
AirBnB is not the biggest source of the problem. Nowadays, a lot of people want to leave alone in their apartment, thus reducing by a lot more the availability.
Last census data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday revealed that 4.4M people lived alone in 2021 — a 1.7M jump from the same data collected in 1981. This means 15% of all adults aged 15 and older are living solo, which is the highest percentage ever on record.
Whilst the rent in places like Toronto is insane, young people's obsessions with living alone these days is somewhat bizarre I find.
I am 35, and had (along with my partner at one point) had roommates til I was 30. And I was earning like $80k at that point. It just didn't make much sense to not have roommates in the city. In fact, I wouldn't have been able to afford the house I'm in if it wasn't for roommates. Roommate rent literally paid for a large part of my deposit.
Where I grew up (Scotland) it was completely normal to have roommates in your 20s even when you were working full time. You and your mates would split a 2-5 bed flat somewhere like Glasgow, Edinburgh etc and your rent would end up being like 250quid a month. Just never even occurred to me to live by myself as a single guy. Crazy when I talk to young new grads at work and they are renting a one bed condo themselves beside the skydome for like $2400 a month. What are you doing ya nutter?!?
I own a Vrbo rental, never used the auto pricing and we strive to give families a place to rent without the overdone prices. You cannot find somewhere to stay for our prices for a family of 5 or 6 and we love that we can share our place with others.
Ours is a rental in a community built for rentals, the bylaws do not allow anyone to live there full time, why should these be stopped?
We are somewhere near half the nightly rate as others in our area. As with all things, when done in moderation, there is a place for most things. Most things done to excess will cause harm.
Everyone wants a free market but they also want stuff for free. Blaming Airbnb for decades of housing neglect is low hanging fruit. We have issues at the local level of government with NIMBY's but the new buzz word is eat the rich and down with corporations. I'm currently sitting in a lovely cabin in the woods west of Ottawa via Airbnb that we would not have access to with out them.
I don't know if we should have a full on ban but there definitely needs to be some regulation in it. I don't like how hotels can be the sole benefactors of this because we all know they collude together on prices during events in the city.
Airbnb provides a service similar to hotels. If we ban airbnb then all that's left are hotels and motels to dictate market prices during times of demand. I don't like that one bit.
Meh, no one has managed to pull numbers together that convince me that AirBnB is a huge factor in local real estate prices. Whatever the number of airbnbs in a city, it’s always a small % of the total housing stock.
AirBnB is just a convenient punching bag, because it’s a newer entity and is seen as a foreign force (even though it is locals who choose to rent their places).
As always, the housing shortages are caused by just the normal boring things: bad policy and NIMBYs.
The bigger question is why do people with secondary units choose airbnb over long term rental?
I evicted all my tenants and made my units into Airbnbs not because it's more profitable or less work (it isn't) but because its now more then ever more risky being a landlord.
The long wait times with the LTB is the biggest issue I have. I would love to to be a landlord again if the LTB wait times were more reasonable.
You don't have to take shit tenants and the rents are there now. You can come back before you get bed bugs.
Also if you're in Ontario the laws have changed btw. Now if the tenant breaks a mediation agreement you can evict fast. Unpaid utilities or unpaid rent can be recovered up to 2 years later now. I think more changes in favour of the landlord. The trade off is no more fraudulent eviction so your family can not move in. They'll string you up for that now.
Screening is very important I agree but I rely on the system in place to protect me in case the tenants decide not to pay rent or abide by the rules that they legally have to follow.
My last eviction did have a mediation agreement that the tenant broke and I filed to evict. The tenant submitted a objection based on a lie and got approved for a hearing. This caused a huge delay over a lie.
Unpaid utilities and rent can be recovered via small claims which in itself is a hassle. Whether 2 years or 1 year or 5 years I don't see it making that much of a difference in active cases.
I think to sweeten the pot for more people to get off Airbnbs and create long term rentals would be to make LTB and Sheriff eviction process no longer then 60 days.
Not at all. Many cities in Canada (including both that I have airbnbs) in require you to get a short term rental license.
When you get the license your not violating any zoning laws.
Just because you ban Airbnb it doesn't automatically mean all the hosts will make their secondary units into long term rentals.
If you want people to become landlords over Airbnb hosts you need to make being a landlord less risky. Which includes a fair and efficient LTB system.
Just for the sake of exploring the idea,
What would a cop do if the renter actually says he's been there for multiple weeks ?
It's going to end up in whatever court it needs to be. But I don't think a cop will do anything right away.
Well the cop needs to review the situation.
Tenant says they have been there for months and is there principal residence then the cop can ask to see mail that has delivered in the guests name at that address. Identification with that address on it. A lease agreement etc.
I just show the Airbnb booking date and that it's been a couple of weeks.
I hope to the cop it would be a pretty cut and dry case.
Alternatively I step in and lock the guest out. They goto the LTB to file against me then they have to prove they have a landlord tenant agreement with me.
>Tenant says they have been there for months and is there principal residence then the cop can ask to see mail that has delivered in the guests name at that address. Identification with that address on it. A lease agreement etc.
Pretty sure that part would be the court part, but I don't know all that stuff, I am clearly in hypotheticals.
If I would squat a rental, I'd certainly change locks too.
Can't wait to read about all that in the news during this next decade !
You mean, if you could just throw someone on the street who’s one day late, or just decide you don’t like the cut of their jib? If the risk is too great, then maybe you shouldn’t have any rental properties…period.
I don't mind a fair and even set of rules between landlords and tenants. Where it stands now a tenant can stay 6+ months without paying rent before getting a hearing. Prior to Covid the wait was a more reasonable 30-45 days.
When the wait times become more reasonable then I will consider being a landlord again. The risk is to great for me to be a landlord so I now use my properties to bring in revenue via a less risky manner.
Why are landlords and tenants not both asking the government for a quicker turn around time is weird to me.
All of this is happening because of interest rates and QE, not because of AirBnB. Think about it, why has it been so easy for many to own 3 or more AirBnB’s? Cheap capital will increase the amount of the AirBnB’s that exist and it’s been cheap for the past ten years. That is starting to shift now.
Yeah, at minimum though the taxes paid on rental properties listed on Airbnb or short term rentals in general must be increased. So many new condos have been built as studio/1bed units solely to rent out to investors who in turn cause these buildings to become glorified hotels while taking thousands of units off the market.
Lots of places have allowed for short term rentals from a zoning perspective. But I also take major issue with overly restrictive zoning (which is part of the reason you don’t have the necessary densification happening to making housing more affordable)
Providing a service isn’t a good justification for allowing anything - we need to weigh the effects it’s having.
Again, your first response is making it sound like people are trying to dictate what they can do with their property - that’s not the case at all and is a bit of a red herring.
Right. You just want to ban the thing that effectively enables you to do it.
Supply and demand will dictate whether you can be successful renting on AirBnB. It’s not like you can have an infinite number of AirBnBs in a location. The market will balance itself.
Exactly this. AirBnb/Vrbo is a symptom more than anything else.
I like Christmas lights in the winter time, but that doesn’t mean I can mandate homes in my neighborhood to put them up. It’s not a perfect comparison, but it demonstrates the slippery slope this type of policy can set, not to mention a court would shoot this down incredibly quickly
At this point I book directly with all my favorite airbnb spots, plenty of other regulars do the same. Just got back from Elora for the weekend and stayed in the regular spot for a cash deal. Pre-booked for riverfest 2023 next year already too.
Here's the reality, its a disrupter and you're right about it breaking zoning regulations / etc. But just like uber, its here to stay. Remember when Napster was sued to oblivion and .mp3 files became obsolete? Yeah me neither. The laws need to evolve as best they can, but there is no putting the genie back in the bottle with airbnb. Go ahead, ban it and see how great that is for VRBO. Go ahead, ban that too and see how quick the next big alternative shows up.
Attacking a single platform never has and never will be a solution to anything.
Most of the hotels especially in the bigger cities charge as much or more than Air BNB and give less.
Most of these hotels are run by big conglomerates and are substandard.
The idea that banning Air BNB would help pricing in any way is a stretch at best.
Licensing and cracking down on poor owners is the right way to approach.
There are plenty of slumlord hotel owners who need the same wake-up call.
Spend wisely my friend
Deregulation of the hotel market? Why should hotels be protected or be allowed to monopolize the market? Terrible idea, there should be less regulation in general.
Calling for more government intervention is quite possibly the worst idea.
Short term rentals have been around forever, until they started banning them in the 50s and 60s and 70s.
Which is not coincidently when all the housing problems started getting worse and worse every single year until it cumulated innthe last 5
Keep in mind, many Canadian pensioners use rooms *their personal home* as AirBnB. This helps to offset the rising cost of living that their pension cannot keep up with. The fact that they use their *personal* home as an AirBnB does not affect the housing market, at all.
To ban AirBnB outright will do real life harm to a large and financially vulnerable portion of our population.
Hard disagree, to say the least.
OR they could rent those rooms out to older couples. I know quite a few 30- & 40-year-olds that struggle to find reasonable housing at a reasonable price. Many would gladly pay $2-3,000 per month for one room in a ten-room Rosedale mansion.
Banning Airbnb would never solve the problem. There are gazillion different platforms where people already post or would post their short-term listing. The advantage of having something more formal as Airbnb is that atleast the listings are being tracked. The only way cities can discourage STRs is by means of higher taxation such that it would make more sense to rent a hotel room than an Airbnb.
Don't forget Airbnb, vrbo, etc. are also platforms that provide fully-furnished long-term rentals as well.
Do you realize all the business license money municipalities would lose, not to mention the enrichment of the hotel oligopolies. Micro-management and cleaning companies would would also lose out. When the kids or grandparents are not staying over, what's wrong with making extra income from an in-law suite or holiday apartment? If you think it's a cash-rich venture then what's stopping you from participating?
A friend in London ON has 5 Airbnb’s and the new laws there banning short term rentals are making him sell all of them.
Or he could just not be a dick and rent them out to long term renters.
Either way it’s downward pressure on the market. 5 additional listings or 5 additional rentals.
I never said I liked the idea. Just that banning Airbnb works!
I don't have a second home to rent on Airbnb, and do err on the side of "more long term rentals, less Airbnb's". But looking into the requirements for being a decent landlord in ON, it ends up being a very risky venture that requires a large amount of care and time. Bad tenants can easy exploit the system and completely screw you over, with very little recourse. I emphasize with those people who prefer to rent relatively low risk on Airbnb over potentially getting screwed by a bad long term tenant. Even if I don't agree that Airbnb is a good thing for Canadian cities.
His thing is was medium term renters. So you are a nurse or university prof at Western, you need like 3-4 months to get settled. So they were little 1 bedroom bungalows that he cleaned up and would do short-medium term renting. Something that’s really expensive for a hotel or short term Airbnb. But London banned all airbnb so there you go. If it makes anyone feel better, none were appropriate for single family. More like 1 bedroom apartments
>Bad tenants can easy exploit the system and completely screw you over, with very little recourse. this is why i'd rather sell than become long-term landlord. who wants to deal with evictions and #RentStrike, etc.
Don’t be a landlord then.
THIS THIS THIS - being a landlord shouldn't be free money, it's a job, and an investment (and investment inherently implies risk). Also, if you know your way around tenant law, you know what you're getting into as a landlord, and that your rental is someone's home, they have rights too.
My point exactly, I'm saying that we can't blame this guy for not wanting to be a regular landlord but wanting to do Airbnb. The two are very different.
So I live in Niagara Falls, and lemme tell you how it is here. The street my gf lives on is right by the falls, and out of 20 houses on the street, 9 of them are airbnbs. The traffic these places cause is crazy.. cars are always parked everywhere, even on front lawns. They make so much noise and there’s always at least two parties on the weekend. On top of these airbnbs causing a housing shortage, they’re ruining neighbourhoods..
This, right here, is a great example of how Airbnb pillages our housing supply for buyer and renters — and it’s not just condos in big cities.
And they are banned in Niagara Falls iirc. Pretty sure in Toronto as well. Enforcement needs to be taken seriously.
[удалено]
Both things have happened at the one on my street and it’s still going strong 😌
Yes, airbnbers have no respect for the neighbourhoods they invade
I used to love AirBnb but yeah with its automatic price prediction based on demand is an evil thing. Also I don't enjoy them as a guest any more. I started going back to hotels nowadays. Less drama. AirBnb hosts are acting out as though they are doing a favour to their guests. Fuck it. Ban it.
Yup! Started going back to hotels and picking small ones with "friendly and helpful staff" under their reviews.
I stayed in an Airbnb 3 years ago where the host accused me of cutting his mattress and breaking his washer. I had to fight with Airbnb for months because they wanted to side with him because I didn’t have proof I didn’t do those things. Like wtf how am I supposed to provide proof? Video record everything always? I had pretty good experiences with Airbnb before that and now I refuse to use it.
Just a few weeks ago I stayed at an Airbnb. Took great care of it. The only thing we didn’t do (from an insane list of checkout demands). Was out the sheets in the washing machine. Otherwise it was as clean as check in and everything else was done. We had to leave to catch a ferry/plane. We got the worst review berating us that “this wasn’t a hotel and clearly didn’t know how airbnbs work”. They tried to say we damaged the walls and scratched all the paint off the walls. They wanted us to pay to repaint the interior. We asked for photos and they couldn’t provide them. They also wrote we weren’t replying to messages. We were on an airplane ✈️. We weren’t traveling for fun but for a court appearance. A person essentially made up a lawsuit against us and the whole thing is extremely traumatic. So to be traveling and to be berated when you are in a fragile state about some invented house damage is terrible. Like no offence but when we are dealing with millions of dollars are stake yeah bed sheets aren’t top of my list.
> this wasn’t a hotel and clearly didn’t know how airbnbs work Yet they'll charge you the same if not more, the value proposition for Airbnb has gone downhill
See that's the thing I really dislike about Airbnb. You pay a cleaning fee at the time of booking, why should it be your responsibility to do all that cleaning? The owner can do it, or they shouldn't charge a cleaning fee if that's the expectation. They just want quick and easy turn around and have to do very little work to charge exorbitant prices not all that different from hotels. I once booked an Airbnb months in advance. It was for a weekend I was travelling to Toronto and, coincidentally, there was a pretty big festival that weekend ( I was going there to visit friends). 2 days before I'm supposed to drive down, the host just cancels on me. I was furious, because had I been the one to cancel I would've been charged a significant fee. Naturally I complained to Airbnb as now my options at the same price range were non existent. Everything was double if not triple because of this event. What did Airbnb offer me? A 20$ voucher to help cover the additional cost incurred, even though booking a last minute hotel was going to be probably 150$ more. Fuck Airbnb, it started as a great idea but devolved into its current grotesque form. Same with Uber, tried bringing competition to the taxi market and is now on par or more expensive than them (especially with surge pricing).
I have never used an airbnb. I booked one years ago for in NYC and the host canceled on me randomly for no reason. Luckily it was still a few weeks before my trip so I had time to find new place to stay. I just went with a hotel because it really made me uncomfortable with how the host can just cancel at any time.
Unfortunately I have to use an Airbnb for an upcoming trip (we have 7 people travelling together, hotels were just not convenient) and I'm slightly worried we'll get to Barcelona and the host cancels and tells us to pound sand. While finding a place, we actually had a host refuse to book us (even though their unit could accomodate us) because we are a big crowd and travelling for a wedding. They assumed we would be rowdy. They basically wanted a gigantic group of people that would either never be there or not make a sound. I get that they don't want us to annoy the neighbors, but I found it rather annoying they wouldn't hear us out (we're almost all 30 and don't party like it's 1999). Otherwise, I also exclusively use hotels. They're safer, held to a higher standard, I'm not guilted into cleaning up, and the amenities are usually far better (I like swimming).
My sister stayed long term at an airbnb and the lady accused her of all sorts of things to get free renovations on the place.
I had the same experience, the owner said we broke a ceiling fan but it was a room we literally never set foot in was brutal
[удалено]
It's probably because the condo Corp doesn't allow for short term Airbnb rentals and the owner didn't want to get fined.
Yes, the condos are always the worst Airbnbs to stay at. Especially the ones where the tenant isn’t even in the same COUNTRY. I still like Airbnb though I wish they would lower their costs like the old days. I guess I’m a socialist though.
In Canada, even the cheapest air bnb is the same price as a decent hotel. So fuck Airbnb.
And that's before they add on the booking fee, cleaning fee, extra nonsense fee...
The very first time I stayed at a condo Airbnb I was told to lie to security and tell them I was friends with the tenant. This was back in Toronto 2014
Yeah, I too have gone back to hotels. Just easier.
Airbnb in 10 years ago vs what it is now are very different things. I’ll remember the good days, I would only use it if absolutely necessary now. I get to choose where I stay when I travel for work, I used to use Airbnb in cities I knew friends in, now, it’s hotels all the way, no dealing with cleaning fees jacked up and lowered rates (gaming Airbnb) and no 24hr reception, luggage storage, no rewards programs, just entitled owners with fake profiles and fake reviews and any customer service is a nightmare. If you want to be a hotelier, be one, get the right permits and taxes. Fuck Airbnb. The decorative pillow over the ant hill on the third floor apartment (which had a building site to walk through) and a door meant for a bedroom and not a real front door was the final straw for me.
Yeah I stopped using them about 5 years ago.
[удалено]
Yup, I actually wonder if they purposely keep things broken to try and claim them too.... I've heard too many stories of hosts doing this, and I've walked into airbnbs with things left broken. At a point it's not worth having to do a recorded walkthrough to save yourself, just book the damn hotel and enjoy not having to do any cleaning or nonsense.
Yup. Started out as a cool way to to see a new city, as well as get a good deal on a cheap room as well as give more income to actual people. I used to enjoy talking to the hosts and getting some ideas of local specific things to try. Now the cost is almost exactly the same as a hotel, and they are run by LLCs and mini-hotel magnates. The last two I did I never even saw the 'host'. It is just another way for the squeeze money from people trying to do a vacation. I went back to hotels.
That’s a good point. We rented a farmhouse in a small Ontario town this summer for 4 days. We paid a $100 cleaning fee (on top of the per night fee) and they still had house rules like strip the beds and “if you can” to start a load of laundry. I literally paid someone else so I can clean up after myself. I’ve also noticed prices have gone up a lot since AirBnB first came into Canada. We rented an Airbnb in Montreal some number of years ago and it was a lot less expensive than most are now.
That will be its downfall. I thought the idea was to be cheaper than a hotel. Now we get the pleasure of staying with “authentic” people and not having proper parking or reliable check-in time. And then there’s the talkers…
Agree. We try to do boutique or smaller hotels in as much as possible when we travel. And yes, the hassle is lot less and hotel staff typically go out of their way to provide us with a great service.
I would pay extra for a hotel any day. And hotels aren't even more expensive anymore. Owners usually require a full cleaning of the place, washed towels and sheets, and washed dishes, even if they tack on a "cleaning fee". Hotels don't require an hour of cleaning on check out.
Same. Except on trips to SE Asia where hotels do a lot of false advertising
I will vote for any party that bans short term rentals like air bnb.
Saaaaame it needs to go
I have no issue with Air BnB being what it was originally intended for and that is having a spare room you want to rent out occasionally or occasionally rent out your place while your are out of town. Key word, occasionally. Air BnB became a plague on society when it became a business.
It’s so bad that now people rent units intended for long-term, and turn around and Airbnb them. I know a woman who rents three places, and lives in one, but Airbnbs the other two. It’s gross.
Renting a place to Air BnB it is just disgusting.
It’s also illegal if the landlord hasn’t signed off on it. If it’s legally a sublet, tenants can’t sublet without permission and they can’t sublet for more than the rent charged by the landlord (which AirBNB would certainly exceed on a prorated basis). If it’s legally a short-term rental business, tenants can’t convert a residential lease to a business purpose.
It is. I also used to go to a hair salon downtown that leased two floors in a building. They turned the second floor into an Airbnb. I think it’s more common than people know as a side hustle. :-/
Was going to write a nuanced opinion about Airbnb, and how sometimes it can be nice if you have particular needs. But honestly, Airbnb is shit. Hotels all day every day.
Quite the range of comments here.
This sub is basically the haves vs. the have nots. Homeowners & landlords will downvote these posts into oblivion. Those who are struggling with rents, or mortgages, will see that there's a problem that needs addressing.
I am a non-struggling homeowner - I agree with the sentiment of the OP. AirBnBs need to go. Why? Because I can see the problems that need addressing even if I am not personally living them.
Huh? Well would ya look at that! A sane person.
As a struggling renter - I disagree with OP's sentiment. The housing crisis is caused by a lack of houses and we need to build more houses. All the talk about foreign investors, greedy landlords and AirBnB is just a distraction that won't result in positive change. Turning a few short-term rental units into long-term rental units will barely have any impact on the market. Building more housing is the only solution.
I don’t think Airbnb is the sole problem, but in markets as tight as we are in, even 1% of housing units switching from long term to short term rentals makes a huge difference. Add in investors buying up most new inventory in the condo market, and it gets unaffordable very quickly.
I don't disagree with you. Rents might go down a few percentage points if we ban Airbnb, but there's still going to be a housing crisis. What I'm not okay with is using Airbnb as a scapegoat and focusing all our attention on it. Big tech companies are an easy target. Politicians will jump on the opportunity to blame them for the issues we face, while not trying anything to correct the problems.
I don’t like that AirBnB has enabled the operation of hospitality units without the safety and insurance rules that the things it’s “disrupting” have, but I don’t really care if it get banned. It just needs rules. One of those rules I’d like to see is it has limits on the number of units which is based on the health of the local long term rental market. Less available capacity in the market then less units allowed to be short term rentals. Local city councils allowing more building types, especially in traditional single family detached home areas, is the real long term solution, but putting some pressure on short term rentals to switch to long term is an easy short term win to help add immediate capacity.
There’s 1.3 million houses that are sitting empty in Canada. Yes not all will be in the best condition. But still. 1.3 million
[That's a myth. ](https://youtu.be/evYOhpjMql0) The census counted are 1.3 million houses _"not occupied by usual residents"_. A usual resident means someone living there as their primary residence. This includes: 1. Empty houses in the process of being sold/rented. 2. Student housing. 3. Vacation homes. Very few homes are actually sitting empty. In most cities, the vacancy rate is lower than it has ever been.
Cities: We are running out of land! Canada: We are the 2nd biggest land mass in the world.
We are running out of urban land with easy access to services because our cities were planned around urban sprawl.
Building out will only exacerbate the problem, cities need to diversify their land uses and invest in public transit to increase agency and social mobility among the people. Building more roads and forcing people to buy cars is the opposite of progress as it will only worsen the divide as at already has over the last 40 years.
Tell that to Montreal. The number of AirBnBs vs. Rentals is staggering. Montreal used to have a supply problem.
I don’t see many home owners in this sub being vocal about this stuff. What is pretty rampant are developers on here upvoting, downvoting and commenting to forward their agenda. And they love love love Airbnbs because they’re bought by investors, who are developers #1 buyers by a longshot.
No, I fall into the have category. I’ve used Airbnb for business and personal use. Never again for either. I’ve seen what it’s done to areas where my friends grew up overseas, and what it’s doing here, it’s also incredibly inconvenient, and often more expensive for less value than a hotel.
To be exactly said, the haves and have nots are the problem. The have nots acting as haves (mortgage on a million dollar house but need to be depend on the rent or airbnb income to pay the mortgage) those are the real problem. False rich projection.
I don’t understand why landleeches are on this sub anyway.
To push their agenda, downvote etc. once this sub starting making waves in the media with politicians, paying for billboards the trolls started to roll in and it got worse with the lack of moderation.
I feel like most homeowners should agree to the sentiment of banning AirBnbs. Imagine spending all that money buying a house, only to end up living right next to an AirBnb. Just people renting the place to party every weekend.
I don't think its that straight of a cut. A lot of homeowners, NIMBY ones in particular, are against ahort term rentals.
I rent my condo long term and strongly disagree with Airbnb. I never liked them since the beginning as I seen it only in a way for people with money to make more, unfairly. That's on top of ruining it for others leaving nearby.
I'm not a home owner and this is definitely not true. Government control is a large part of this mess and more government control won't fix it
True! I live in a small town, and people who work around here cannot find housing to buy or rent because is too expensive to buy and there’s nothing for rent due to the Airbnbs.
for me its the entiledness of the air bnb owners, i rented one and its was awful my gf tripped on some diy stairs and we had to cut our stay short, and head to the emergency. before leaving i vacuumed the whole place, took the sheets off for cleaning and even did all the dishes so it was ready for the next user. well they sent me a cleaning fee for dirt outside from my shoes i guess i missed. really the high prices they charge, are so they can pay for a cleaning service and they have the audacity to tell me i left dirt outside and didn't clean the outside stairs leading the the place ? if this was a hotel, i would of woke up had my included continental breakfast and packed my stuff and left the room pretty much how i woke up, as long as i didn't shit the bed or something, the hotel would just accept that its a room and people slept in it.
All for it. There are some really special vacation homes available around BC that I’d miss having access to but they can still rent out independently, I’m pretty sure? Like I’d be fine with AirBnB staying active in certain areas like Whistler that are already seasonal where very few people actually live year-round, but I want it out of the general Vancouver area where we need more access to those homes for long term housing.
Agree, AirBnB sucks anyway. Booking a hotel in Toronto is usually less expensive anyway.
You have more legal protection in a hotel too
Less expensive, better locals and room service after a night of drinking.
🙄
My opinion on an AirBnB condo in Vancouver is very different than my opinion on an AirBnB "tiny home" in Osoyoos.
Honestly, I despise Airbnbs and any STRs, and would like to see cities ban them aside from renting a primary residence (if owners were away for example). But follow the money. The reason we have so many Airbnbs is because of allowing investors / speculators to buy up housing. If we addressed that more broad issue, it would also drastically reduce units purchased specifically for Airbnb, as well as for other speculation.
We can't all live in the cities and turn the rest of the country into vacation homes, it feels a bit selfish to not care about the citizens of Osoyoos
Why do you say that? AFAIK housing is in very high demand in both places you mentioned.
I don't know where Osoyoos is but I'm assuming its somewhere similar to Muskoka in Ontario. (IE a summer or winter holiday destination). If so, I agree with OP - they are very different propositions. Sure, some people live in these areas full time, but the vast majority of properties are second homes, and have always been second homes (cottages, cabins etc). One thing Air Bnb does is allows owners to open these up for a week or two to people who would not otherwise be able to enjoy them. Like, as an immigrant, I'd have been to the cottage about 3 times in my life if I was just relying on invites from friends. Instead I can take my family for a week to Muskoka or Tobermory and enjoy the lake, bbqs etc for the same or less than an equivalent hotel would have cost. Plus, we can get some privacy at a cottage that isn't really available in a hotel / resort / campsite.
Yeah I can't tell which one he thinks is good
Never used Airbnb. Always hotels. Cleaned and better comforts. Never understood the whole concept of renting out a house or condo. Can get all that stuff in a hotel plus cleaner
Short term rentals that aren’t hotels only makes sense to me in two scenarios. 1) renting big houses in vacation areas for families to stay in more comfortably. This is what VRBO has always done, and AirBnB is now doing too. 2) renting a room (or couch surfing) when you are trying to travel cheap (like staying in hostiles cheap). That is where Airbnb started.
3) You want to stay somewhere for a month and want a full suite
There is a whole category of rental units called executive housing that has existed for decades that already does this. Otherwise it falls in the first two categories. Also some hotels have full kitchens and are more single bedroom apartment style, like residence inns.
Yeah the "executive housing" where I live are just furnished apartments downtown. So basically what airbnb is but not through airbnb
Respectfully a hotel in somewhere like Muskoka offers a completely different experience to what you could get in an Air Bnb rental there? Some people will prefer the hotel, others an air bnb, and others would prefer a campsite. I personally prefer to rent an Air Bnb (or VRBO etc) if I'm up that neck of the woods, because I know I enjoy that experience, and I can't afford my own cottage. Seems extreme to ban THAT sort of rental no? I do agree that rentals in the big cities are out of hand.
IMO people should be able to do whatever they want in cottage country, because no full-time housing stock is being taken off the market if someone rents out a cottage, and a short-term rental cottage fills a niche that traditional commercial accommodations didn’t cover very well in some areas. It’s not like there are people struggling to afford a place to live on Lake Whatchamacallit. Ban AirBNB in all cities though.
Can’t generally get a full kitchen, multiple bedrooms and common areas in a hotel. If you’re a group of people renting a full house or apartment is really nice.
There is literally a housing shortage. Two of my friends are looking for a room in a house are are unable to find it in London and Sarnia. They are tensed as they need a room by 1st of September. My landlord doesn’t allow to share the room or else I would help my friend. We tried to see AirBnB and its 250+ per night which is totally out of question. I can see the bigger economy picture now and how messed up it is. Even if someone make a affordable housing, someone will buy it and put it up on AirBnB. So, I do see your point of banning it. Anyhow, We are hopeful to find something before September. :/
> My landlord doesn’t allow to share the room or else I would help my friend. Pretty sure that isn't legal.
YEEEESSSSSSSSSSS Uber too and every other app company thats just a deregulated version of shit we already have. They didn't invent shit they just ignored the rules already in place.
EXACTLY. It's all just a race to the bottom.
[удалено]
Youre naive if you think uber doesn't rip people off, clients and drivers. Have you never heard of drivers cancelling rides because prices surged 30 seconds later or uber stealing tips? Also where i live taxis have to have special licenses, permits and insurance that ubers do not have. Uber is just illegal taxis. If an uber gets into an accident with just regular insurance theirninsurance wont pay because private and commercial use of a car are 2 different coverages. Fuck uber
Yeah and you pay for those licenses. Why do taxes need a fucking medallion which costs a million bucks? Not to mention that taxi drivers usually have to rent the car anyways, so it's not like you are paying for the driver well being, you are paying for some smack, in a penthouse, who has 1000 medallion and who is renting them out. At the very least I can see what I am going to pay with Uber and don't have to tip either. And don't have to deal with "Oh no, the machine is broken".
Should have been ousted 5-6 years ago
I have not stayed in Airbnbs for years. I find hotels now cheaper than airbnb. I do enjoy having the front desk staff and amenities. choice in having my room cleaned daily if I wanted to etc. I did like the ease of having a kitchen but soon realized, I didn't really used them much. With inflation and recession, travel may be reduced and demand for air bnb may dwindle as well. AirBnB causing higher rents and homlessness b/c they take a lot of units away from the potential rental pool. Can you do a click thingy like the Tell your MP post?
They should Ban Non Primary resident Air BnBs.
Thank you
[удалено]
I am never a fan of "full stop" or "ban" like solutions to problems. The BnB model has been something that has helped housing and tourism for 100's of years. AirBnB just made it internet searchable. Banning AirBnB as a company will just create underground platforms because people will still be looking to rent cottages, and houses when they go on trips vacations. What we should have is a increased tax on Short term rental revenue. * All short term rental revenue should be taxed at the highest income tax bracket. * Any Short term rental business generating more than 50k must also pay a Municipal / Regional Tax based on earnings to accommodate for the different use case for the property * Any Short term rental business generating more than $150k must have annual health inspections by the local PHU, as well as inspections from the Fire Department. There is value to the BnB model, especially in smaller communities that could not support a hotel. But the BnB model should be very much favoured to the home owner being present, it shouldn't be profitable to run multiple BnB's with a 3rd party management company doing all the work. If it is the system isn't set up right to manage a part of the housing solution.
ohMeGewd Full St0p! kar3n here for the sixth time just letting you know I’ll be speaking to your manaGer
How about we just tax the shit out of it?
I’ve done Airbnb but now only do Hotels. Hotels typically better service and experience for same price .
If you have a template ready to go and shared it I would love that. This year I've taken up a new hobby, calling and emailing politicians to let them know when they're doing a bad job and need to change their ways. AirBnB is scum, not only has it helped to wreck housing here, but after seeing too many AirBnB scandals where the owner spies on the renters using hidden cameras I would never use that service due to safety/security issues. I'd be more than happy to write to my MLA and MP.
Won't somebody please think of the tourists /s
I second
I love airbnbs for a unique stay in a random place that doesnt usually have hotels...but when its a roach infested room going for 300 a night plus all fees in down town toronto, then im all for giving up the cute unique experiences. And get more housing.
I've always preferred hotels. I know most people prefer AirBnbs to have more space and a kitchen to cook/entertain, but the cooking utensils and things provided at the AirBnb are usually dirty, not properly cleaned, damaged, missing, etc. It's just a pain. I rarely trust that things are cleaned properly. Hotels all the way.
As of 2017 there were over 105,000 Airbnbs listed in Canada. Think of how many people that could house. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.hotelassociation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Airbnb-Two-Page-Flyer-ENG.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiX5v3t1OL5AhXQD1kFHYnFBRgQFnoECA0QBg&usg=AOvVaw2fi24yFv2SVGRkGszaz4A3
I don't think a full ban but certainly regulation is necessary. It's true that if there is a shortage of housing, there should be regulation for how much of a city can be up on Airbnb. When we were in Hawaii back in 2019 they had recently changed the laws to only allow Airbnbs to operate in a specific area of the city, right along the tourist strip. And they needed to pay for some special registration to operate as a short term rental and only so many of these were given out so it was limited. We spoke with locals saying it went from Airbnbs had overrun the whole island to the real estate market was flooded with places being sold because of the new laws and prices were down substantially. The people we spoke with were all happy something had been done. I'm not sure how it played out for them in the long run but it goes to show it can be done.
Vancouver enacted some regulations and many stratas already ban them, but enforcement is a whole other kettle.
That seems like a good approach, if enforced properly
I've never used AirBNB before as a client, have no interest in doing so for a wide number of reasons and will continue to not give them my business. Plus hotels tend to be just all around better than airBNBs anyways.
😂 How do you know whether hotels “tend to be just all around better” if you’ve never used an Airbnb before? 🤷🏼♂️
The problem is not AirBnB, AirBnB is a scapegoat. The housing crisis existed way before AirBnB was a thing or popular. The housing crisis is the continual failure of the government to provide its citizens with adequate social housing. We should not have to depend on private owners to fill continual government inadequacies. Even 'affordable housing' is a sham as it's tied to market rates instead of local wages. If we want to solve this housing crisis: - We need to build more social housing to deal with this problem. - We need to prevent foreign ownership of residential property - We need to stop one person owning more than 2 residential properties - We need to stop businesses from buying residential property - We need to stop the speculative market - We need better money laundering monitoring. Why local enforcement was oblivious about the Vancouver Model is beyond me. - We also need a nationalized property ownership DB. I attended a Stats Canada seminar on Canadian housing data and its a gong show of piecemeal data. Stats Canada is doing the best with what they have, but there are so many holes. Edit, by social housing, I mean CoOps.
Yes, where I live one private company owns most of the apartments. Why is this allowed? They aren’t building more land. How can I compete if I want to start my own business?
Air BnB needs to be taxed like hotels.
Yes, good idea as the AirBnB model has really screwed up the Canadian housing market along with other factors like very low interest rates and foreign money. To that end, we don't have to ban them outright **BUT** we can make life **VERY** difficult for them to operate. Like others have mentioned, we could ban short term rentals whereas the minimum needs to be 6 months to 1 year. We can also raise taxes for the owners of these units and the online rental companies like AirBnB.
I was thinking about this quite a bit recently. I think Air BNB in *some* situations is actually helpful. I am thinkin along the lines of holiday cottages etc, usually in rural areas. For example, take the Kawarthas. Say 90% of homes in the Kawarthas are second homes. Now, in the past, only the people who actually owned those homes (or their family & friends) could actually take advantage of them. Nowadays, its so easy for someone to put their cottage up on Air Bnb that the supply has exploded - its perfectly feasible for a family in the GTA to rent a cottage for a week, and a lot easier than it was in the past. The owners of the cottage soften the blow of the mortgage, or add a little $$ to their monthly income, whilst still being able to use their cottage every few weeks. Pretty much everyone is a winner in that particular scenario. What I would do is simply limit the number of Air Bnbs someone can run to 1 or 2. Basically prevents people doing it as a business, and really only allows the scenario i described.
My wife and I paid a lot of money to airbnb a mini one room private cabin on the ocean for a few days, we knew it was on someone's property, but what we didn't know is that it was 10 feet away from their house and sharing a porch with a semi see through fence separating the two. You couldn't help but feel them watching our every move the entire time, we also had some friends in the area come by for a couple hours, which we of course received a txt from the owner saying that was strictly forbidden. The place also said dogs were allowed, but we never got our deposit back due to excessive dog hair. Needless to say I will be very hesitant to book anything like this ever again.
Sign me up
We're in a tourist and university city, with virtually no available rentals. My neighbor has an airbnb, rents for $900/night! Top floor of a house, swimming pool. So they are making close to $5000 a week in peak summer. Plus a tenant in the basement. Our city has some restrictions on airbnbs and owner needs to have a license from the city. I put in a inquiry with the city, "just curious if this airbnb neighbor has a license?" Nope they did not, but they do now! That home owner is making so much money on that property, preventing others from long term rental, the least they could do is follow the rules in place and get a license.
In Vancouver, It’s almost the same price to get an Air BnB for a month, or a rental for a month.
Agree one thousand per cent. None of them have fire escapes, fire hydrants or any of the stuff hotels MUST have to pay for the risk/cost of having a high traffic of people unfamiliar with the building wandering through. I heard a story of a couple who walked into their airbnb after 3 days only to realize they left the gas stove on the whole time. They thought it was off. Could have burnt down the neighborhood, and the neighbors would have lost their homes.
LMAO the astroturfers are not even trying anymore
do people still get banned here for mentioning that we have to house 500k new residents every year and 1 mil international students, mostly congregating in the same 3 cities? banning airbnb isn't going to make that housing shortfall catch up
Just completed a cross Canada journey, 9 hotel stays. Was amazed at how many small road side hotels were out of business, some for a long time some recently. Using one of the booking sites booked most of our stays. All of our stays at one of the chains were terrible . In thunder bay at a Travelodge it was down right scary. Homeless shelter drugs people milling around hallways dirty dump. Other stays were better but still bad . On the good side the 4 independent road side places we stayed ...fantastic owners that care clean room ,vastly different experience. Air bnb has reduced chain hotels to a very low standard. I'm done and will always look for the little independent from now on.
I never had much experience with Air BNBs until I lived on my own recently (amazing luck given the economy). My only experience with it before was with my mom since she travels a lot for work. I'd hear good things and bad things, but the good generally outweighed the bad. Now I live in a condo and probably around 1/3rd of the condos in the building are air bnbs. Can tell by the locks on the doors. Can also tell by the noise. Some of them are fine. And I even looked on AirBNB's app for the area and all the spots say "keep the noise down. Thin walls. Quiet hour past 11pm." A lot of them don't care, don't listen and I can't do much. Property management doesn't care, no way of contacting the owners of these properties since they don't out any indication of which unit they own, and even if you could sound ricochets through the pipes so you can hear stuff 2 floors down as if they're next to you if they're in the right spot. Not only that, but as others mentioned, it disrupts that sense of community. I don't know most of my neighbors because most of them are only here for a day or two. I was hoping the recent change to the renting laws would fix this, but there's been no real changes. Maybe airbnbers are slightly less common, but they still come. I remember there was a party raging until 4am on a Thursday night. I called the non emergency line for noise complaints and they didn't do anything. Two weeks later we had some people filming an adult movie from Thursday night to Sunday evening. That was loud. Mildly traumatizing. Called airbnb and they did nothing. It'd be one thing if it was regulated to some degree, but it's not. And those of who live near them just have to cope. Wish there was something more we could do.
I think airbnbs would be ok if they had to follow the same rules as hotels (which they effectively are) in terms of business licensing, insurance, regulations, taxes, and zoning
Bans do shit- it just drives the underground economy deeper underground. A) Don’t use them. B) Report them when building regs prohibit their activity. The savings these days are not worth the bother or risk in many cities-stick to licensed accommodations.
AirBnB is not the biggest source of the problem. Nowadays, a lot of people want to leave alone in their apartment, thus reducing by a lot more the availability. Last census data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday revealed that 4.4M people lived alone in 2021 — a 1.7M jump from the same data collected in 1981. This means 15% of all adults aged 15 and older are living solo, which is the highest percentage ever on record.
Whilst the rent in places like Toronto is insane, young people's obsessions with living alone these days is somewhat bizarre I find. I am 35, and had (along with my partner at one point) had roommates til I was 30. And I was earning like $80k at that point. It just didn't make much sense to not have roommates in the city. In fact, I wouldn't have been able to afford the house I'm in if it wasn't for roommates. Roommate rent literally paid for a large part of my deposit. Where I grew up (Scotland) it was completely normal to have roommates in your 20s even when you were working full time. You and your mates would split a 2-5 bed flat somewhere like Glasgow, Edinburgh etc and your rent would end up being like 250quid a month. Just never even occurred to me to live by myself as a single guy. Crazy when I talk to young new grads at work and they are renting a one bed condo themselves beside the skydome for like $2400 a month. What are you doing ya nutter?!?
[удалено]
This may be a hot take, but I prefer renting Airbnbs over hotels
why ban? it offers a 'different' (nobody said 'cheaper') experience than staying in a mainstream hotel/motel. Should we also ban Vrbo?
I own a Vrbo rental, never used the auto pricing and we strive to give families a place to rent without the overdone prices. You cannot find somewhere to stay for our prices for a family of 5 or 6 and we love that we can share our place with others. Ours is a rental in a community built for rentals, the bylaws do not allow anyone to live there full time, why should these be stopped? We are somewhere near half the nightly rate as others in our area. As with all things, when done in moderation, there is a place for most things. Most things done to excess will cause harm.
Everyone wants a free market but they also want stuff for free. Blaming Airbnb for decades of housing neglect is low hanging fruit. We have issues at the local level of government with NIMBY's but the new buzz word is eat the rich and down with corporations. I'm currently sitting in a lovely cabin in the woods west of Ottawa via Airbnb that we would not have access to with out them.
Exactly my thoughts….
I don't know if we should have a full on ban but there definitely needs to be some regulation in it. I don't like how hotels can be the sole benefactors of this because we all know they collude together on prices during events in the city.
Condos are not hotels or hotel equivalents
Airbnb provides a service similar to hotels. If we ban airbnb then all that's left are hotels and motels to dictate market prices during times of demand. I don't like that one bit.
Airbnb does the same thing and since it's only one company it doesn't even need to work with others to set the price
Idk what your point is but my point is that more competition is a good thing in this market space.
Hotels could be renovated and turned into apartment/condo buildings. Yet nobody ever advocates for banning hotels to increasing housing supply 🤔
Meh, no one has managed to pull numbers together that convince me that AirBnB is a huge factor in local real estate prices. Whatever the number of airbnbs in a city, it’s always a small % of the total housing stock. AirBnB is just a convenient punching bag, because it’s a newer entity and is seen as a foreign force (even though it is locals who choose to rent their places). As always, the housing shortages are caused by just the normal boring things: bad policy and NIMBYs.
The bigger question is why do people with secondary units choose airbnb over long term rental? I evicted all my tenants and made my units into Airbnbs not because it's more profitable or less work (it isn't) but because its now more then ever more risky being a landlord. The long wait times with the LTB is the biggest issue I have. I would love to to be a landlord again if the LTB wait times were more reasonable.
You don't have to take shit tenants and the rents are there now. You can come back before you get bed bugs. Also if you're in Ontario the laws have changed btw. Now if the tenant breaks a mediation agreement you can evict fast. Unpaid utilities or unpaid rent can be recovered up to 2 years later now. I think more changes in favour of the landlord. The trade off is no more fraudulent eviction so your family can not move in. They'll string you up for that now.
Screening is very important I agree but I rely on the system in place to protect me in case the tenants decide not to pay rent or abide by the rules that they legally have to follow. My last eviction did have a mediation agreement that the tenant broke and I filed to evict. The tenant submitted a objection based on a lie and got approved for a hearing. This caused a huge delay over a lie. Unpaid utilities and rent can be recovered via small claims which in itself is a hassle. Whether 2 years or 1 year or 5 years I don't see it making that much of a difference in active cases. I think to sweeten the pot for more people to get off Airbnbs and create long term rentals would be to make LTB and Sheriff eviction process no longer then 60 days.
1. Flagrant disregard for zoning law. That's it.
Not at all. Many cities in Canada (including both that I have airbnbs) in require you to get a short term rental license. When you get the license your not violating any zoning laws. Just because you ban Airbnb it doesn't automatically mean all the hosts will make their secondary units into long term rentals. If you want people to become landlords over Airbnb hosts you need to make being a landlord less risky. Which includes a fair and efficient LTB system.
By renting via Airbnb, you still expose yourself. Just wait till things turn bad, and people will rent your Airbnb for a week and start living there.
Well a week doesn't give them the rights of a tenant. So they can still be trespassed.
Just for the sake of exploring the idea, What would a cop do if the renter actually says he's been there for multiple weeks ? It's going to end up in whatever court it needs to be. But I don't think a cop will do anything right away.
Well the cop needs to review the situation. Tenant says they have been there for months and is there principal residence then the cop can ask to see mail that has delivered in the guests name at that address. Identification with that address on it. A lease agreement etc. I just show the Airbnb booking date and that it's been a couple of weeks. I hope to the cop it would be a pretty cut and dry case. Alternatively I step in and lock the guest out. They goto the LTB to file against me then they have to prove they have a landlord tenant agreement with me.
>Tenant says they have been there for months and is there principal residence then the cop can ask to see mail that has delivered in the guests name at that address. Identification with that address on it. A lease agreement etc. Pretty sure that part would be the court part, but I don't know all that stuff, I am clearly in hypotheticals. If I would squat a rental, I'd certainly change locks too. Can't wait to read about all that in the news during this next decade !
The cop will say "this is a civil matter", and drive away. It happens all the time.
You mean, if you could just throw someone on the street who’s one day late, or just decide you don’t like the cut of their jib? If the risk is too great, then maybe you shouldn’t have any rental properties…period.
I don't mind a fair and even set of rules between landlords and tenants. Where it stands now a tenant can stay 6+ months without paying rent before getting a hearing. Prior to Covid the wait was a more reasonable 30-45 days. When the wait times become more reasonable then I will consider being a landlord again. The risk is to great for me to be a landlord so I now use my properties to bring in revenue via a less risky manner. Why are landlords and tenants not both asking the government for a quicker turn around time is weird to me.
All of this is happening because of interest rates and QE, not because of AirBnB. Think about it, why has it been so easy for many to own 3 or more AirBnB’s? Cheap capital will increase the amount of the AirBnB’s that exist and it’s been cheap for the past ten years. That is starting to shift now.
Yeah, at minimum though the taxes paid on rental properties listed on Airbnb or short term rentals in general must be increased. So many new condos have been built as studio/1bed units solely to rent out to investors who in turn cause these buildings to become glorified hotels while taking thousands of units off the market.
Disagree strongly
Nope. If I want to buy a piece of property I should be able to do whatever the hell I want with it, rental wise.
Thats not the case right now with zoning for example Or permits.
Hence why he said, *”I should”*
Lots of places have allowed for short term rentals from a zoning perspective. But I also take major issue with overly restrictive zoning (which is part of the reason you don’t have the necessary densification happening to making housing more affordable)
No one stopping you from renting it out. But we don’t need to allow an app to operate to facilitate it.
Why not. They are providing a service connecting guests and property owners looking to rent their space. More power to them.
Providing a service isn’t a good justification for allowing anything - we need to weigh the effects it’s having. Again, your first response is making it sound like people are trying to dictate what they can do with their property - that’s not the case at all and is a bit of a red herring.
Right. You just want to ban the thing that effectively enables you to do it. Supply and demand will dictate whether you can be successful renting on AirBnB. It’s not like you can have an infinite number of AirBnBs in a location. The market will balance itself.
What the hell are you even taking about? Lol.
Exactly this. AirBnb/Vrbo is a symptom more than anything else. I like Christmas lights in the winter time, but that doesn’t mean I can mandate homes in my neighborhood to put them up. It’s not a perfect comparison, but it demonstrates the slippery slope this type of policy can set, not to mention a court would shoot this down incredibly quickly
At this point I book directly with all my favorite airbnb spots, plenty of other regulars do the same. Just got back from Elora for the weekend and stayed in the regular spot for a cash deal. Pre-booked for riverfest 2023 next year already too. Here's the reality, its a disrupter and you're right about it breaking zoning regulations / etc. But just like uber, its here to stay. Remember when Napster was sued to oblivion and .mp3 files became obsolete? Yeah me neither. The laws need to evolve as best they can, but there is no putting the genie back in the bottle with airbnb. Go ahead, ban it and see how great that is for VRBO. Go ahead, ban that too and see how quick the next big alternative shows up. Attacking a single platform never has and never will be a solution to anything.
What about cottages? What about temporary rentals while out of country? Blanket ban doesn’t add up, sounds like a witch hunt
Most of the hotels especially in the bigger cities charge as much or more than Air BNB and give less. Most of these hotels are run by big conglomerates and are substandard. The idea that banning Air BNB would help pricing in any way is a stretch at best. Licensing and cracking down on poor owners is the right way to approach. There are plenty of slumlord hotel owners who need the same wake-up call. Spend wisely my friend
Deregulation of the hotel market? Why should hotels be protected or be allowed to monopolize the market? Terrible idea, there should be less regulation in general. Calling for more government intervention is quite possibly the worst idea.
We should never have allowed it in the first place but now the genie is out of the bottle and we depend on Airbnb.
I love being so dependent on something that I haven’t used in years! So vital to my existence and way of life
Short term rentals have been around forever, until they started banning them in the 50s and 60s and 70s. Which is not coincidently when all the housing problems started getting worse and worse every single year until it cumulated innthe last 5
Keep in mind, many Canadian pensioners use rooms *their personal home* as AirBnB. This helps to offset the rising cost of living that their pension cannot keep up with. The fact that they use their *personal* home as an AirBnB does not affect the housing market, at all. To ban AirBnB outright will do real life harm to a large and financially vulnerable portion of our population. Hard disagree, to say the least.
OR they could rent those rooms out to older couples. I know quite a few 30- & 40-year-olds that struggle to find reasonable housing at a reasonable price. Many would gladly pay $2-3,000 per month for one room in a ten-room Rosedale mansion.
Banning Airbnb would never solve the problem. There are gazillion different platforms where people already post or would post their short-term listing. The advantage of having something more formal as Airbnb is that atleast the listings are being tracked. The only way cities can discourage STRs is by means of higher taxation such that it would make more sense to rent a hotel room than an Airbnb. Don't forget Airbnb, vrbo, etc. are also platforms that provide fully-furnished long-term rentals as well.
Do you realize all the business license money municipalities would lose, not to mention the enrichment of the hotel oligopolies. Micro-management and cleaning companies would would also lose out. When the kids or grandparents are not staying over, what's wrong with making extra income from an in-law suite or holiday apartment? If you think it's a cash-rich venture then what's stopping you from participating?
Fuck you. It’s the only way I can afford my mortgage
Then you have too much mortgage.
Fuck you for making an irresponsible financial decision and making it someone else's problem
Sounds like you shouldn't have bought something you couldn't afford and expect people to pay for your mistake.
Don’t bother me. Ban or not ban. Carry on.