Councillors scrutinize proposed short-term rental bylaw, make suggestions for changes

Kawartha Lakes newly proposed short-term rental (STR) bylaw came in for a rough ride at the last Committee of the Whole meeting. Multiple councillors questioned the bylaw as written, while some proposed significant and serious changes that could potentially weaken the ability the city has to deal with uncaring property owners and their disrespectful renters who make life very uncomfortable for their neighbours.

The bylaw, introduced by Aaron Sloan, manager of bylaw and licensing for Kawartha Lakes, proposes a licensing and inspection regime for the city’s 600-800 STRs that will ensure the property is safe, renters are mindful of their neighbours and that landlords are responsive to bylaw when there are incidents reported at their rentals.

Ward Two Councillor Pat Warren wanted to know why the city chose a maximum 30-day rental period to define the difference between an STR and a more traditional rental accommodation.

“We looked at the industry standard,” Sloan said. “Anything more than 30 days is more typical of something you would find in the Landlord and Tenant Act.”

Warren was very supportive of all STRs having their septics inspected, but wondered why all properties in Kawartha Lakes are not having their septics municipally inspected as has just happened in Haliburton County.

She believed the city would need more new bylaw hires than the document calls for “because a lot of people don’t complain because no (bylaw) people are working on the weekends.”

Warren was very concerned that the people who don’t call because they have not received service in the past “have not been measured” for the preparation of this draft bylaw.

“Employees are available on the weekend,” Sloan said. “We are proposing three additional enforcement staff and it may take a while to get there. We need to better educate cottagers about what we do and that staff is available on weekends.”

Warren also wanted to know what the new bylaw would do about “villas.” Warren defined a villa as a large cottage that has been cut up into as many as eight bedrooms and are able to host over 20 people at any given time.

“The owner would have to register a site plan with the city as part of the licensing process,” Sloan said. “The site plan would designate bedrooms and would have to coincide with the building code and the approved septic capacity,” Sloan said.

Sloan made it clear that the number of bedrooms, and therefore the number of allowable renters, would be determined by what the septic was designed and licensed for.

Ward Six councillor Ron Ashmore wondered if the “rules that are on the books right now and established by council are not being enforced because of a shortage of bylaw staff.”

Sloan responded that the city dealt with 138 STR complaints last year and that the additional nuisance by-laws passed by the city previously “impact all staff, the work gets blended in with other duties and the increased workload results in delays.”

Ward Four councillor Doug Joyce wanted to know from Samantha White, whose company has been hired by the city to assist in creating and implementing their STR program, how long it has taken other municipalities she has worked with to get compliance from STR owners.

“Education of property owners will be the driver,” White said. “We now have 95 per cent compliance in Niagara-on-the-Lake and over 85 per cent compliance at Lambton Shores, a place with lots of STRs. You need to identify the properties to ensure compliance. It is good to get people registered before the bylaw is even passed. Everyone needs to know what is expected of them. There needs to be teeth in the bylaw. You need to flag the STRs that aren’t compliant early on.”

Deputy mayor Tracy Richardson wanted to know how the clause in the bylaw stating that after a property owner had been informed of a problem at their STR they had 30-60 minutes for “a responsible person” to respond and solve the problem being complained about would work.

“We want owners (or their property manager) onsite in 30 to 60 minutes after the complaint is filed,” Sloan said. “We want to engage property owners (and make them part of the solution).”

Ward One councillor Emmett Yeo, whose ward is ground zero for many STRs currently operating, had many concerns with the bylaw as currently constituted and wants to see significant changes made in the licensing fees and inspection protocols.

Yeo wondered about the multi-level fee structure that charges $300 for a STR license if the owner lives onsite and $1,200 if the owner lives offsite.

“People should only be paying $300,” Yeo said, “if they are paying a neighbourhood person to take care of it in their absence…these people shouldn’t be charged $1,200 when someone close by is there to take care of the property.”

Yeo asked Sloan if the two-person per bedroom limit currently included in the bylaw made any kind of concession for children sleeping in that same bedroom with parents. Yeo was told there was no accommodation for that kind of sleeping arrangement.

Yeo pointed out that some of the inspections the bylaw requires to gain a license like electrical and for a woodburning appliance are “duplicated and unwarranted” as the homeowner has already had these inspections done to purchase home insurance.

The rural-area councillor continued his critique of the bylaw advocating for what he called a “rural rental exemption” and a “friends and family clause” that would exclude STR owners who live in isolated locations far away from other cottages or who only rent to close friends and members of their extended family. Yeo wondered if these owners could be license-exempt saying “if there have been no complaints about these kinds of properties why change what is working.”

Yeo accused Sloan of “painting all STR owners with the same brush,” something Sloan did accept.

Sloan told Yeo that if the STR owner advertises the property for rent on any platform it would need to be licensed and inspected.

Ward Four Councillor Mike Perry echoed the concern expressed by the deputy mayor that a 27 per cent year over year increase in STRs was worrying. He also accepted that there is a shifting public perception of STRs that is becoming more negative. Despite those acknowledgements, Perry was concerned “that we don’t want a bylaw that has gone overboard.”

“We should be more concerned with shorter rentals,” Perry said. “I think rentals of 14 days or less, and particularly weekend rentals are the ones that create problems,” Perry said.

Perry also wanted to know if licensing fees could be reduced to reflect the amount of income the property actually generates. Perry advocated for a removal of licensing costs if the owner lives onsite.

“We will take these questions under advisement,” Sloan said. “We really want to focus on the nuisance issues that are a problem for the greater public.”

Ward Five councillor Eric Smeaton wanted more information from Sloan on what kind of service by-law is currently providing for complainants overnight on summer weekends, when the bulk of complaints about unlawful behaviour are phoned in.

Before Sloan could answer, Smeaton laid out the following scenario that a number of his constituents have had to deal with in real time.

“It is 2 am on a Saturday night,” Smeaton said. “I am lying facedown on my kitchen floor because people next door (renting the STR) are setting off fireworks that are striking my cottage. I have already called the OPP who have told me to call bylaw. I call by-law…what is currently in place for the complainant?”

“We don’t have the capacity currently to respond to that call,” Sloan said. “We will receive the information and investigate sometime later.”

Smeaton wondered how the city would inform STR owners who had accumulated too many demerit points because of various investigated infractions that their license was either being suspended or revoked.

Sloan suggested that once there was a pattern with a property that education would occur that might prevent that license from being pulled.

In a closing comment, Smeaton, originally from Niagara Falls, cautioned his fellow councillors that data collected on compliance from the Niagara-on-the-Lake experience is likely not directly comparable to what will be seen in Kawartha Lakes and that recent program rollouts in Collingwood and Tiny Township by Coldwater may contain data that is more appropriate to this part of Ontario.