Charlottetown council approves rules for short-term rentals
CBC
Charlottetown city council approved new regulations for short-term rentals at its regular meeting Monday night.
New zoning and development rules will mean any short-term rental must be a primary residence. Owners will not be allowed to have multiple properties, and apartments will not be allowed.
A suite in someone's home would be allowed, but only if the owner lives at home at the time of the rental.
"We've been working on this issue for two and half years. It's been a long road," said Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown.
The rules will not change immediately. Council is looking at a one-year grace period before the amendments come into effect.
The plan has the new rules coming into effect on March 28, 2023. Council passed first reading of approving the one-year grace period and final approval is expected at the council meeting in March.
Brown said the extra time will allow operators to decide what they want to do with their properties, and staff to plan licensing requirements and fines for people who don't follow the rules.
"We need to put in place a process for licensing, a process for the registration and definitely an enforcement mechanism," said Brown.
Some councillors at Tuesday's meeting felt the issue should be discussed more and brought up the possibility of deferring the vote, suggesting the planning department give another presentation to council members. The motion to defer the vote was defeated and council passed the motion in a 6-2 vote.
Connor Kelly, the tenant network coordinator with the P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing and Cooper Institute, said the new rules are "a win."
It's a step to seeing homes more as homes instead of commodities, he said, adding he was was worried when council was talking about deferring the motion.
"It's nice to see that it passed," said Kelly.
Kelly hopes it will slow down price increases in the housing market.
"The housing market has been very deeply scarred by Airbnbs," he said.
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