Property owners in Toronto hoping to offset their high mortgage payments with income from Airbnb or Vrbo will have more hoops to jump through starting later this month as the City moves to crack down harder on those who may be contravening our stiff short-term rental bylaws.

Tighter regulations surrounding these properties have been coming down since 2020, when leaders pushed forward a vacant home tax and promised more stringent enforcement for violators.

People are blaiming Airbnb for Toronto's high rent prices.The proliferation of short-term rentals also prompts big developers and their investors to make new builds more AirBnB-friendly, if not completely cater to potential Airbnb hosts as buyers by design https://t.co/du6QN8pKRD

— ProLuxRE | GTA Toronto Real Estate Agent/Realtor (@ProLuxRE) August 19, 2023

As part of further updates to the municipal code, more rules are being rolled out in phases over the course of 2024 and 2025 — including a new set coming into effect on September 30.

Starting on that date, hosts will need to supply at least two documents, in addition to their government-issued ID, to prove that a short-term rental is their principal residence.

They should also be prepared to potentially attend an in-person meeting with City staff to "present information or documents that may be required to evaluate eligibility to be issued a short-term rental registration" if requested to.

#ShortTermRentals in Toronto are permitted in your principal residence. New changes to bylaw coming into effect on September 30 will ask operators to submit more documents to prove the short-term rental is their primary home.

Learn what else is changing: https://t.co/nh9Iqj8QCl pic.twitter.com/EYUb50EMvk

— City of Toronto (@cityoftoronto) September 4, 2024

Furthermore, as of the end of this month, only one registration will be allowed per dwelling unit, and if and when that registration is revoked, owners "will not be able to apply for a new registration for one year, and no other person will be able to apply for a registration related to the address for one year."

The City will also take the liberty of conducting annual inspections of all registered short-term rentals to ensure compliance.

Airbnb hosts in Toronto are instructing guests to lie about stays https://t.co/zT0OzQrnHv

— blogTO (@blogTO) April 12, 2024

More amendments coming down the line on January 1, 2025 include a giant increase in the short-term rental operator registration and renewal fees, from just $55.35 each to $375 each — which seems like an almost punitive 677 per cent jump, but perhaps necessarily so given that owners of thousands of units are thought to be operating illegally using various loopholes.