The term “Short-Term Rental” or “Short-Term Accommodation” is when all or part of a dwelling unit is used to provide sleeping accommodations for any rental period that is less than 30 consecutive days in exchange for payment.
Online short-term rental (STR) platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway, and FlipKey fall within the ‘sharing economy’ which describes online platforms that connect consumers to each other, in order to sell or rent things to one another. Home sharing has increased in popularity because it provides a more personal alternative to hotels during vacations or business travel, and income potential to the home owner that can help supplement mortgage payments.
STR's present challenges to existing regulations like local municipal by-laws (i.e. property taxes, zoning and licensing by-laws) and home-owners may not be aware they are violating provincial legislation in addition to municipal rules and/or condominium corporate rules.