Recently, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, which is known as LPAT, sided with the city in Toronto in implementing the short-term rental rules. So here's what it means for real estate investors who are into the short-term rental game (such as Airbnb) of real estate investing.

You cannot short-term rent your non-owner occupied property. There's two types of properties. One is owner occupied where the owners live and there is non-owner occupied. If you own a condo downtown or a duplex, those properties where the owner does not live in cannot be short-term rentals moving forward.

Now with respect to the owner occupied properties, if the owner lives in their house, they will be allowed to rent their entire house for up to 180 days out of the year, approximately half of the year.

If the owner lives in a duplex or a triplex, that second unit or third unit cannot be short-term rented. It has to be a long-term lease moving forward.

There are two questions to consider: Will Airbnb appeal this decision? And the second is how will the city of Toronto enforce these rules moving forward?

Each owner of a short term rental investment will have to register with the city of Toronto and pay an annual fee of $50.

Personally, I am in support of restricting short term rentals for the following reasons:

• Some condo buildings have been turned into hotels due to the volume of short term visitors going and coming

• If I was an owner of a condo living in one of these buildings, I would be extremely annoyed due to noise levels and the degradation of quality of lifestyle

• Condo buildings were not built for commercial use, such as hotels. The wear and tear will cost owners due to increased repairs, reserve funds depletion, higher maintenance fees and property value stagnation or devaluation

• For homeowners in quiet residential areas, the increased traffic of short term visitors going in and out of homes degrades the quality of life

What are your thoughts on short term rentals?

If you're looking to invest in real estate, whether it's short-term or long-term, or have questions with respect to the short term rules in the city of Toronto, please feel free to reach out.

Until next time, happy investing.