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> Under an old North York bylaw, ... short-term home rentals must be seven days or more. Seems like an arbitrary law. There's got to be a better way to struct
by josho 10y ago
> Under an old North York bylaw, ... short-term home rentals must be seven days or more.
Seems like an arbitrary law.
There's got to be a better way to structure laws for short term rentals in a sharing economy. Or is the sharing economy similar to the tragedy of the commons in that the end state is an end to sharing because of abuse and we all end up with commercial short term rental properties that are run more like a hotel than a spare room.
- detaro 10y agoGiven that they had created a company to rent out the house and are selling it now it sounds like this was a "commercial short term rental property", not a "spare room".
- josho 10y agoSeems like I wasn't clear. By commercial I meant something more than an individual with a business license, something more along the lines of a hostel experience where there is a lobby and staff like a security guard.
- amscanne 10y agoThat would be a _responsible_ commercial enterprise. This property (and many other AirBNB) properties are commercial, but effectively skirting all regulations that would normally apply. This specific house was rented and a massive party thrown where someone was shot. Hostels and hotels spend money (e.g. security) to ensure the environment is safe and this kind of thing doesn't happen. AirBNBs can be responsible, but it means things like actually renting spare rooms, having someone nearby (you or a neighbour) meet guests and keep an eye on things, etc.
- GavinMcG 10y agoWould you call a limit of, say, 5 days out of every 30 an "arbitrary" limit? That's what we're dealing with, here: limiting frequency or duration. Many people simply don't want a constant stream of strangers coming through their living environment. That's not arbitrary, even if you happen to feel comfortable with it yourself.
- josho 10y ago> limiting frequency or duration. Yes, that still seems arbitrary. The abuse seems to be related to people committing crimes or breaking noise bylaws, not how long they stay. So, legislation for the length of stay strikes me as addressing the wrong problem. Really the solution to the problem is to ask the data questions. Do airbnb rentals have more noise complaints/crime, than similar non-airbnb residences. If the data suggests airbnb promotes bad things then ok, maybe that frequency limit isn't so arbitrary. I wonder by what means could a city demand airbnb's data to discovery which residences are being used for short term rentals.