Toronto city councillor Joe Cressy is urging short-term rental operators to de-list “ghost hotels” following a shooting at an Airbnb that left three dead.
Police say the shooting took place at a condo in Toronto during a social gathering.
Cressy is calling for short-term rental operators to delist “multiple listings and ghost hotels.” He told reporters that these places are unsupervised and unsafe, and that they often lead to tragedies.
Toronto took the strong step of passing a by-law restricting short-term rentals to people’s primary residence. That by-law is not in force as we wait for legal appeals to be completed. That shouldn’t stop AirBnb from voluntarily applying these rules today. They can and should. https://t.co/Bkn01GXtn7
— Joe Cressy (@joe_cressy) February 1, 2020
Toronto has been trying to place regulations on short-term rentals for quite some time now. In November, an Ontario tribunal ruled to uphold Toronto’s plan to place stricter regulations on short-term rentals following a two-year appeals process.
The new rules require short-term rental operators to live at the residence that they list for rent on services like Airbnb. However, a group of landlords is looking to appeal the rules, which will delay regulations even further.
Following a number of shootings at Airbnb residences last year, the company banned all open invite parties at all of the properties listed on its platform.
Source: The Toronto Star
