{"id":31369,"date":"2022-05-26T17:43:40","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T21:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=31369"},"modified":"2022-05-26T17:49:52","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T21:49:52","slug":"short-term-rental-fees-adjusted-for-fairness-across-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/short-term-rental-fees-adjusted-for-fairness-across-aurora\/","title":{"rendered":"Short-term rental fees adjusted for \u201cfairness\u201d across Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New rules for the operation of short-term rentals in Aurora \u2013 like AirBNBs \u2013 have been adjusted for \u201cfairness\u201d ahead of enactment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes to proposed new fees presented earlier this year at Council were tentatively approved at last week\u2019s General Committee meeting. These include a reduction in initial licensing fees for hosts, a lower renewal rate for those registering their properties as short-term rentals (STRs), and the implementation of a fee structure for STR companies that is based on the number of rental units they own within Aurora as opposed to a flat rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding to concerns from Council earlier this year on a demerit point-based system for owners, which local lawmakers said was too lenient, a new demerit system will, according to staff, better address community concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStaff have reviewed the demerit point system and adjusted the point values to better reflect the severity of offences and address concerns raised by members of Council,\u201d said Alexander Wray, Manager of Bylaw Services for the Town of Aurora. \u201cDemerit points will apply on an accumulating basis when violation is noted to a maximum of 15 points and reset annually. Staff will continue to seek voluntary compliance and lead with an education approach wherever possible prior to applying demerit points.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council members had previously criticized the \u201cresetting\u201d of demerit points each year, particularly for less minor compliance issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the Town\u2019s proposed implementation of AMPS \u2013 \u201cthe Administrative Monetary Penalty System\u201d \u2013 staff will have more enforcement options for non-compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce implemented, the AMPS will provide Bylaw Services the ability to apply escalating fines to an offender who repeatedly violates municipal bylaws,\u201d said Mr. Wray in his report. \u201cEscalating fines are an effective enforcement tool which also reflects the severity of the violation. The applicability of escalating fines would be determined by pre-set criteria to ensure fair and equal application of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillors were receptive to the changes at last week\u2019s meeting, particularly the beefing up of the demerit point system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am very pleased to see they have been increased,\u201d said Councillor Wendy Gaertner, adding that three demerit points for contravention of the Town\u2019s Property Standards Bylaw, with respect to grass and garbage, as well as noise, are going to be issues Council will hear about down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She asked whether the Town could adopt escalating charges in these situations, based on complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Wray said through AMPS the Town would have the chance to introduce escalating fines for \u201coffences that continue to happen within a set period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is something that is currently in place in other municipalities in the GTA in order to deal with continued issues,\u201d he said \u201cWe feel it would be most appropriate as opposed to continuing to apply points\u2026if we have an alternative tool to continue to address long-term compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responded Councillor Gaertner, \u201cThe whole idea behind this is not only to ensure the safety of the people who are visiting but also the neighbours. We want it to be as good an experience as possible for neighbours. We know noise and how a property is kept is usually very important to a neighbourhood and it really is a lot of trouble and work for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New rules for the operation of short-term rentals in Aurora \u2013 like AirBNBs \u2013 have been adjusted for \u201cfairness\u201d ahead of enactment. Changes to proposed new fees presented earlier this year at Council were tentatively approved at last week\u2019s General Committee meeting. These include a reduction in initial licensing fees for hosts, a lower renewal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-89X","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 09:26:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}