I have been an Air BNB Host in my home for 3 years, renting out a basement apartment. The City is regulating short term rentals which they are saying will come in effect in Fall 2019. I wondered what do you know about how the new regs in Toronto and Vancouver have affected their Hosts rental business. I sent an email on the same subject today to Air BNB, since our CTV news team ran a feature article, taking side of the large corporation rental businesses, and quoting Air BNB Hosts as being irresponsible, ie, allowing parties.
As a Superhost I am troubled, feel uninformed, and in reading the community corner on Air BNB site, I can see the same thing happened to Torontonions last summer when their short term regulations were published. If the City of Ottawa Councillors do what they do best, it will certainly become very complicated (many Councillors side for large corporations/like hotels). I am certain that the City is poor at informing Hosts of what to expect with new regulations, or in fact it isn't clear on how and when we are to register and what is involved. If I don't hear something soon from Air BNB office, I may just put my apartment on hold as of Jan 1st 2020. I recall reading that Toronto Air BNB hosts who wanted to end their rentals due to new regs, allowed them to close their Air BNB on line accounts and they honoured the already booked reservations. If that is the case I will leave my air BNB calendar open, and wait to hear more about new regs and how it affects me. Do you think this will be the case for Ottawa, that I can leave my listing open, and if I decide to close after new regs take effect, that my guests who already booked can rent the apartment without me having to register.
Claire **
Superhost Ottawa
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**[Phone number hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines]
