THINKING OUT LOUD: Avoiding long-term pain with short-term rentals| SaltWire
HALIFAX, N.S. — On one hand, it’s a very appealing offer in challenging economic times. Who wouldn’t want to earn some extra money renting out space in their own home if they could? But when it impacts your neighbours, that’s when it becomes a much bigger issue. This week, Halifax Regional Municipality introduced new rules around short-term rentals that go into effect in September. Bill Stewart is involved with a group called Neighbours Speak Up.
And also, it was a pretty easy jump to see that housing would be an issue here. This was all around the time that we started to be more cognizant of the vacancy rate being so low in Halifax. So, we immediately realized that some regulation was needed around this. We had searched around and tried to see if there was regulation. We were in touch with land use bylaw management and reached out to them. I think they had tried to do their best.
And I say that because at least where there's a primary residence, you have someone that has some personal responsibility for the property, if even a renting tenant is there, for the long run, may go away or rent out a property for a short period of time. But at least they're there to manage the property to deal with the issues rather than let the neighbours in nearby residences, if you're in an apartment building or condo, let them deal with the problems.
What we needed to do was to hear from people as well. It's one thing to go around and look for statistics and data. But you really need to supplement that with stories. So, people started to write into us. We did some media work in order to reach out to people and ask them to do that. And we had a number of people writing into us talking about not only their direct experience with living next to a short-term rental being trapped in their buildings, some very sad messages, quite frankly.
I'm afraid I'd have to say to people that there are rules around where you can open a hotel. And further on that analogy, if you're going to open a hotel you should be subject to the same kind of rules and regulations that they are. These short-term rentals benefit from the fact that they only pay residential tax, when in fact, they're actually running a commercial enterprise.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
THINKING OUT LOUD: Avoiding long-term pain with short-term rentals | SaltWireHALIFAX, N.S. — On one hand, it’s a very appealing offer in challenging economic times. Who wouldn’t want to earn some extra money renting out space in ...
Lire la suite »
THINKING OUT LOUD: Jim Nunn, cheekily poking stuffed shirts | SaltWireHALIFAX, N.S. — It was appointment viewing for many Nova Scotia households. The 1st Edition political panel with journalists Harry Fleming and Parker ...
Lire la suite »
THINKING OUT LOUD: Closures and labour shortages on the menu | SaltWireHALIFAX, N.S. — We all have memories of sharing a special moment in our lives with a meal at a restaurant with family or friends. But the people providing ...
Lire la suite »
THINKING OUT LOUD: Closures and labour shortages on the menu | SaltWireHALIFAX, N.S. — We all have memories of sharing a special moment in our lives with a meal at a restaurant with family or friends. But the people providing ...
Lire la suite »
Canada eases travel permits for Iranians avoiding regimeIt will be easier for Iranians to extend their stay rather than go home to a regime with no respect for human rights.
Lire la suite »
'Wishful thinking perspective': Analyst on Ritchie Bros. desire to buy IAA - BNN BloombergRitchie Bros. Auctioneers's effort to buy IAA has stirred up a lot of shareholder controversy and one analyst says he can see why.
Lire la suite »