Hi everyone,
I had messaged AirBnb directly, and a kind lady in their legal department recommended I share my story on the Airbnb forums. I’m hoping to reach out to those in the community to see what sort of support I can gather.
In addition to this reddit post, let me explain my story: https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/3znpma/condo_board_just_sent_me_the_letter_and_i_plan_on/
I am the owner, and occupier of my condo unit in Ottawa, Ontario. Back in October 2015, the condo board changed the rules to disallow units to be used for hotel/transient purposes and leases under 3 months.
I personally began doing the Airbnb stuff around November 2014, where I rent out a room within my condo and would argue I still am within their legal guidelines. They focus on the word "unit" in the rules, whereas I am only doing a single room.
After some fumbled communications to me (one which didn’t even request I stop doing Airbnb), I responded with my stance that I was not renting a “unit”, but rather a room in my private place, which I personally feel has no legal reach. As far as I know, courts have not been successful in having individuals that live within the unit stop doing Airbnb – only fully rented units. This is akin to the Landlord & Tenant Act of Canada not applying to border/roommate situations where the landlord lives with the renter.
On December 31, 2015, I had a letter from the condo corp’s lawyers stating that I should stop, along with a $550 + HST fee attached. This is when I hired one of the top Ontario condominium lawyers to handle my case.
Usually my lawyer would tell individuals point blank if they have a case or not, but this time he seemed more optimistic and excited that I had the legal right to do so. He reviewed my Declaration and Rules, which stated that “residential units shall be occupied and used for single family residential purposes and ancillary uses”. Most Declarations in Ontario state “single family residential purposes only”. The "ancillary" uses is a broad term, which is where we would fall under. Additionally, given the new Rule prohibiting short term leases came into effect in Fall of 2015, I was grandfathered in.
I’m now being threatened with a lien for the $550 + HST. I still hold my stance that the Declaration allows short term leases, and regardless, I’d be grandfathered in, but would be willing to negotiate a grandfathering in period. My lawyer and I responded to the legal letter by their required deadline of January 18, 2016 and we’ve been since waiting to hear back. We followed up today, and my lawyer advised me I have 3 possible scenarios.
- Continue to push back
- Pay what they ask (~$1,200 of legal fees along with the Notice of lien)
- Attempt to negotiate a payment less than what they request
He advised going to court would be costly. At the same time, I am extremely confident in the position, and have researched numerous cases and outcomes. I would love to go to court and have a precedent set with the current situation. I think this would be beneficial to all Airbnb hosts across Canada, and more specifically in Ontario.
The only issue is costs. I’m open to funding this as much as I can myself – but I’m hoping to see what sort of support or donations I can receive from the community. If any donations want to be made, I’m happy to coordinate it and send it “in trust” to my lawyer. Any excess fees collected (or any court decision to have all my fees paid) would be returned and/or donated to a homeless shelter or whatever the community sees fit.
I’m not looking to profit off this. I took on Airbnb to continue meeting people after I had extensively travelled the world, and this was the perfect way to continue doing so from my own home.
I’m happy to answer questions and would love to hear any feedback you guys may have.
Thanks!
