Airbnb party house wreaks havoc on Mississauga neighbourhood

Residents in a quiet Mississauga neighbourhood are looking to city council for action after an Airbnb rental turned into a party house nightmare for neighbours.

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"First we didn't know what was happening. We just thought it was people that purchased the house and then there was parties happening every weekend," said Sharon Kwok, who lives across the street from the house. 

"I have two young children so I don't want them exposed to that." 

Months of late night parties

Almost every weekend for the past three months a house on Snowflake Lane in Mississauga has been overrun with partygoers, many of them parking on the street and leaving the remnants of their partying, from soiled mattresses to shot glasses and party cups, behind. 

"Sometimes we even think it's underage, you know where they can't get into the clubs so they're coming here," said Kwok.

Franklin Guzman lives two houses away from the party house and said the noise has kept him and his family awake at all hours. 

"We have experienced some major disruptions at nighttime," Guzman told CBC News.

'Get us back our neighbourhood'

"There's garbage everywhere, people smoking dope. Just different situations that are not part of this neighbourhood," he said. 

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Guzman said he's called police and city staff but nothing has seemed to help. 

"The neighbourhood has come together and made the phone calls required," he said. "Now we have to have the city do their diligence, do their part and get us back our neighbourhood." 

Councillor wants regulations

Mississauga Coun. Sue McFadden said she is trying to help residents like Guzman by putting forward a motion to create local regulations for the home-sharing service. ​

"I don't have a problem with people renting out their house but there should be rules," said McFadden.

"You can't infringe on a community and take away the value of life that people enjoy." 

She first began getting complaints from residents in February. As the complaints kept pouring in, McFadden and her staff investigated the home and realized that the owner was offering short-term rentals.

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"It had been sold in February, so what he was doing was as an absent landowner he was renting it on the weekend to recoup some money," McFadden said.

She sent bylaw enforcement officers and police to do regular checks during parties and had parking officers issue tickets to cars parked unlawfully on the street "to frustrate them, if nothing else," McFadden said.

Airbnb denied her request to have the house taken down from the site, and the home's owner declined to hear complaints from the community, she said.

McFadden will look at how other jurisdictions are handling similar problems before putting forward her motion, which could call for rentals only to people over the age of 21, for example, or perhaps include a time restriction.

McFadden said she hopes to have a motion ready to present to council in the next two weeks.