Too soon to tell if Charlottetown short-term rental rules are making things better, says city
No fines for infractions have been issued yet, says Charlottetown's deputy mayor
The regulation of short-term rentals is going well in Charlottetown, according to the city, but officials say it's still too early to know if it's having the desired impact on the housing shortage in the Prince Edward Island capital.
After years of discussions, a grace period, and licensing delays, new rules dictating who is allowed to operate a short-term rental (STR) came into full force in late 2023.
The hope? That it would help combat Charlottetown's low vacancy rate and improve housing affordability.
"I would say we need a couple of more years of proper data for us to see whether or not we're going to get some good impacts on our housing stock, whether or not we're going to increase the integrity of our neighbourhoods in our communities," Deputy Mayor Alanna Jankov said in an interview with CBC News.
Data from the city shows that in the first year, 215 applications were approved. Of those, 82 operators were in place before the bylaw passed and were granted "legal non-conforming" status.
No fines issued
So far the city said no fines have been issued. However, it has taken more than 100 "enforcement actions," including having some properties removed from online platforms.
"Enforcement is complaint-driven," said Jankov. "In most situations, they've been very willing to work with the bylaw enforcement around compliance."
The first and second time someone doesn't follow the STR rules, Jankov said, a bylaw officer is likely to remind them of the regulation and provide a certain amount of time to make changes. She said that's working well right now; people tend to either make the changes or decide to rent out the unit long-term instead.
"Because we're so new into it, we haven't had to get to that next step yet of charging folks," she said.
'Some hiccups'
If you live in Charlottetown, the regulations say you can rent out all or part of a principal residence — that is, the home in which you live — on a short-term basis. Apartments are not included, and you can have only one property listed. The application fee is $175.
There have been concerns around the $2,000,000 commercial liability insurance required for operators under the regulations, Jankov said.
"Staff are looking into that to see whether or not that is a best practice," she said. "There's always going to be some hiccups ... you're always going to discover things in your bylaw that perhaps need some further investigation."
A list of all the legally registered short-term rental units is available on the city's website; scroll down and click on
Approved Tourist Home (Short-Term Rental) Permit List. As of April 25th, more than 140 had been approved for the year.
"If you don't see that address there, then you'll know that they're not licensed," said Jankov.
"Over the years, we'll have way better, more accurate data to really be able to zone in on what this actually looks like for the City of Charlottetown."