WEST CARLETON – Coun. Eli El-Chantiry’s approved motion will exclude the rural areas in the city’s efforts to regulate short-term, for profit rental accommodations within the urban core.

City council approved the framework to regulate short-term rental accommodations during the city council meeting Wednesday, Nov. 27. City staff plan to develop and pilot new regulations to permit short-term rentals in residential neighbourhoods for the next three years.

The issue of short-term rental accommodations, such as those available on platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, HomeAway and FlipKey, exploded on to the community’s radar following an early morning shooting in Nepean, Oct. 20 at a place being used as an AirBnB short-term rental.

Pressure was applied to city council to come up with stricter regulations. The new pilot regulations includes:

• Short-term rental platforms and property managers will need to register with the city and provide information on listings
• Short-term rental hosts will need to get a permit that would be valid for two years, and follow rules related to consumer protection, health and safety, and community nuisances
• The city will use revenues from the new registration and permit fees, and from the municipal accommodations tax, to enforce the rules

The gist of the motion is, if the property owner doesn’t live at the property, they won’t be able to rent it out as a short-term accommodation.

“During this council meeting I introduced a motion to request greater flexibility for short-term rental use of secondary dwelling units and coach houses in the rural areas of the city,” El-Chantiry told West Carleton Online yesterday (Nov. 28). “My motion was approved unanimously.”