Skip to content

Letter: Little thought to vacation rentals

Your peaceful neighbourhood is now a community of transients
18614523_web1_PWN-T-Letters-660
Penticton Western News letter to the editor

Most of us give little if any thought to vacation rentals. It is not until one pops up in your neighbourhood will you appreciate its impact on your quality of life.

Your peaceful neighbourhood has become a quasi-commercial district and is now a community of transients. Vehicle parking associated with the vacation rental may overflow onto your quiet street because neither the city’s zoning bylaw, nor regulations adequately address the problem.

The city’s major high occupant vacation rental category does not set a limit to the number of guests. So assuming the house has four bedrooms; you could see four couples and four automobiles that have to park somewhere with some parking on the street.

With four couples, plus additional visitors, the vacation rental may become a party house with attendant noise and disruption to the quiet enjoyment of your property. Once again the zoning bylaw falls short in protecting you and your neighbours. The property owner is not required to live on the property, so right up front there is nobody to help you.

Your only protection is that the city requires the owner of a party house to “ensure that renters do not create any form of nuisance for surrounding residents.” While there is a threat of a fine, I do not believe this will deter party-goers.

You may end up deciding to move to get away from the noise and disruption. Good luck! Party houses can drive down nearby home values. No, you are stuck with living near a party house because the city dropped the ball.

City council is unlikely to admit they were napping when approval of vacation rentals was granted.

So it is unlikely we will see vacation rentals outlawed in residential neighbourhoods. But if they are better controlled, they might be able to better fit in. And that might be by following the city’s bed and breakfast model.

The zoning bylaw allows B&Bs to operate as an accessory use within a single detached dwelling. A key requirement is for the licensed operator to reside in the dwelling.

Limiting the number of persons who can occupy a vacation rental to four persons in two sleeping units and requiring the owner to live in the home will go a long way to prevent it from becoming a party house. And requiring one parking stall for each bedroom will help deal with the on-street parking issue.

Carriage houses intended to address the city’s long-term housing needs must not be allowed to become vacation rentals. Simple amendments to the zoning bylaw can handle this.

Vacation rentals are not suitable in a residential neighbourhood but if the city council will not ban them they should at least better manage them. To this end, there may be some hope since the city council intends to consider the issue. Only time will tell.

Don Cummings

Penticton