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Penticton plans review of online rental listings

City plans on reviewing the listings on home rental websites in the near future to ensure people are meeting regulations.
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As a tourism destination, it’s no surprise there are plenty of listings in the South Okanagan on vacation rental websites like Airbnb, however not all of them are regulated.

Websites that make it easy to put a room, apartment or house up for rent are convenient, but it is a buyer beware situation said Mayor Andrew Jakubeit.

“It’s sort of a new, emerging trend as far as options for visitors. It’s not for everyone because they are more self-serve or you’re on your own. But it is a different option and it’s good to have a mix, but we do require those interested parties to take out a business licence,” Jakubeit said.

A business licence to operate a vacation rental in Penticton totals $375 annually — $175 of that for the licence and $200 in tourism marketing.

“They are certainly benefiting from efforts to make Penticton a destination so they should contribute toward that,” Jakubeit said. “It’s a very small price to pay for what they are getting in as an income. I think we should be mindful of working together as a community because you still want to have a neighbourhood feel to where your property is.”

Jakubeit said owners need to be wary of insurance as well for liability and coverage of renters, and keeping in good with neighbours, though anecdotally it has yet to be much of a problem in Penticton.

“We certainly know it exists out there, but we haven’t had myriad complaints arise and again we have the good neighbour bylaw,” Jakubeit said. “There are some mechanisms already in place to deal with unruly neighbours.”

Business licences are policed by bylaw officers who also perform safety checks when a licence is obtained, ensuring there are fire extinguishers, proper fencing around pools and other basic safety precautions.

“If you are soliciting and don’t have a business licence you run the risk of operating without a business license and getting fined and having bylaw follow up after that. I think most people want to be good citizens and legitimate business operators,” Jakubeit said.

There is a $250 fine for operating without a business licence in the city.

“There’s room for them and it’s a phenomenon that’s worldwide so we certainly can’t regulate it out of Penticton. I think we need to embrace it, be mindful of it and I’m sure as it evolves we may have to look at some of our policies for adjustments that might need to be made,” Jakubeit said.

Economic Development Officer for the city, Colleen Pennington, said there is no doubt a niche for online rental sites when there is no vacancy at hotels and motels.

“It’s providing a way for people who have homes to rent to reach customers that they really couldn’t do the business development on before,” Pennington said. “It’s providing a better marketing mechanism for the home rental market than existed a decade ago.”

The business licence can provide a sense of security that the business is being legitimately run in the home, Pennington said.

“There’s been lots of stories around people who thought they were getting one product or service and arrived and it wasn’t the case when they got there, so certainly having a proper business licence is a good way of providing people a bit more comfort that they in fact are getting the product they expected when they rented the home using the Internet,” Pennington said.

Listed operating business licences in the city total 15 for vacation rentals and six for bed and breakfasts. Rentals available on Airbnb from the week of May 26 to June 2 alone totalled over 20 with around 60 rentals available in the South Okanagan for the week including Summerland, Apex, Keremeos and Naramata.

Pennington noted that there are more strict bylaws for vacation rentals in the regional district. Vacation rentals in the RDOS are granted via a temporary use permit, one such permit recently caused some public outcry in Naramata, bringing in excess of 10 letters from neighbours claiming guests were disrespectful, loud and sometimes confrontational. The permit was granted by the RDOS board, with concerns about the ability to enforce bylaws without the permit arising.

“We’ve had a court case similar to this in the past and we lost, even though the property was advertised. It is not as simple as showing an online listing for a rental property to prove that’s what it’s being used for,” said Karla Kozakevich, Area E Director.

Pennington said the city plans on reviewing the listings on home rental websites in the near future to ensure people are meeting regulations.

“People should want a business licence, first of all for protecting themselves, and from a legitimacy perspective for their customers,” Pennington said.