AirBnBs in Toronto

Over the last years Torontonians have increasingly rented out their residences on AirBnB, an online marketplace that enables people to list, find, then rent vacation homes.

For the condo and home owners it can be financially more attractive to rent out short term rather than taking in a long-term tenant. For the paying guests, private residences are usually much more affordable than hotel rooms. On the downside: Complaints through neighbors, trashed places, fines. The hotel industry is losing a lot of money and asks to have more regulations applied .

If you are an owner and rent out your condo/house you can search websites as AirBnB, Couchsurfing, Craigslist, Kijiji to see if your tenant offers your home for short-term rentals.

If you are a potential condo buyer you may want to check the condo declaration and see what it says about restrictions regarding short term rentals.

If you want to purchase a home make sure to check the zoning by-law of your future neighborhood. Most condo units will not allow short term stays and condo boards have started monitoring closer what is happening in their building.

If you own a house or you are in a building that doesn’t ban short-term rentals, make sure to find out how it will affect your insurance if you want to rent out your place. Find out if the required extra insurance will leave you enough to make it worthwhile.

(Sources: Globe and Mail, Metro News)