Submitted by emily on
On December 7, 2017, and January 31, 2018, City Council approved regulations for short-term rentals in Toronto. The new rules, which require short-term rental companies to obtain a licence and short-term rental operators to register with the City and pay a Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) of 4 per cent, were set to come into effect on June 1, 2018. However, the City’s zoning bylaw amendments to permit short-term rentals as a use were appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT).
On November 18, 2019 the LPAT issued a ruling that dismissed the appeals and upheld City Council's adopted zoning bylaw for short-term rentals. The decision enables the City to move forward with implementation of the short-term rentals regulations as adopted by City Council.
Now that this decision has been made, the City is working towards implementing the new rules. Once the licence and registration system is built, short-term rental companies will be required to obtain a licence and operators will be required to register with the City and pay the MAT of 4 per cent.
More information will be made available later in December 2019 about implementation and timelines for licensing, registration, and the collection of the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT).
In the interim, as the licensing and registration system is being built, the City will continue to respond to issues on a complaint basis. Residents can contact 311 to report issues related to short-term rentals, such as noise, waste and zoning infractions and the City will investigate accordingly.
For more information on the short-term rental licence and registration rules and on the MAT, please visit: toronto.ca/shorttermrentals . Updates will also be made available on this site.
Below is a brief overview of the rules:
A short-term rental is a rental that lasts less than 28 consecutive days.
Key details on the new regulations
- Short-term rentals are permitted across the city in all housing types in residential and the residential component of mixed-use zones.
- People can host short-term rentals in their principal residence only – both homeowners and tenants can participate.
- People can rent up to three bedrooms in a unit for an unlimited number of nights per year (up to a maximum of 28 days per stay) or their entire home for a maximum of 180 nights per year.
- People who live in secondary suites can short-term rent their suite as long as it is their principal residence.
Licensing and registration
Short-term rental companies will be required to be licensed with the City of Toronto. A short-term rental company is any company facilitating or brokering short-term rental reservations online.
- Applicants will be required to pay a one-time licence application fee of $5,000 and a fee of $1.00 for every night booked through the company.
- Licensees will be required to ensure that all listings have valid registration numbers.
- Upon licensing, short-term rental companies will be required to provide a process for removal of listings that do not have valid registration numbers and a procedure for dealing with problematic operators and responding to complaints.
- Short-term rental companies will be required to keep records of short-term rental activity and provide them to the City as requested.
Short-term rental operators (people renting their homes on a short-term basis) will be required to register with the City of Toronto.
- Operators will be required to pay registration fee of $50 per year and post their City-issued registration number in all advertisements.
- Operators will be required to pay a 4 per cent Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) on all rentals that are less than 28 consecutive days.
- Operators will be required to provide the City with information, such as contact information, address, details of the short-term rental, and the name and telephone number of an emergency contact person who will be available 24 hours a day during rental periods.
- Government-issued identification is required to demonstrate the short-term rental is the operator's principal residence and that they are over the age of 18.
- Operators will also be required to keep records of short-term rental activity and provide to the City upon request.