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Short-term rentals have stopped being a hot-button topic in North Simcoe, but they still continue and an annual Penetanguishene report on them was well received by council.
At the recent committee of the whole meeting, a report on the 2024 short-term rental season from May through September was presented with non-compliance being nearly eliminated from the year prior.
The report summarized licensing, generated revenue, enforcement, administrative monetary penalties and more regarding the town’s short-term rental licensing bylaw.
A 2021 staff report noted 78 active listings on rental sites within Penetanguishene, but by 2023 when bylaws were enacted only 18 short-term rental properties were licensed; in 2024, that number rose to 20 licensed properties.
Administrative monetary penalties from the non-compliant properties in 2023 was estimated to gain $20,000 to the town but resulted instead for $45,500 in revenue; in 2024 another $20,000 was estimated, but only achieved an actual year-to-date of $14,100.
As a result of revenue from application fees but tempered by the cost of a short-term licensing officer, Penetanguishene took in nearly $39,000 from the short-term rental licensing bylaw in 2023, but an actual year-to-date in 2024 of over $26,000.
The report also stated that 23 received complaints to the Granicus tip submission hotline focused on six properties; these resulted in roughly one-third of complaints leading to ceasing operations and over a quarter of complaints resulting in administrative monetary penalties.
Mayor Doug Rawson spoke at the meeting on the town being complimented for their short-term rental program by peers at the county level..
“Other communities that don’t have a hotel or otherwise have reflected how great this has been, and actually looked at us as a leader on this,” said Rawson.
Coin. George Vadeboncoeur also commended staff on the informative report. “Short-term rentals used to be an issue in Penetanguishene in the previous term; steps were taken and it’s good to see the outcome and the results. It’s been very positive.”
In October, Penetanguishene was listed across the country by AirBnb as a ‘trending destination’ for short-term rentals.
A recent Tax Court of Canada ruling found that 13 per cent HST on property value would be applied to homeowners selling their homes if that property was regularly used on AirBnb as a short-term rental.
The 2024 short-term rental licensing bylaw report can be located on the agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.
Meetings of Penetanguishene council are held on the second Wednesday of each month, and can be watched live on Rogers TV cable 53 when available, or on the Rogers TV website.
Archives of council meetings are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.
