Loud parties, litter: cottagers struggle to deal with unruly short-term renters

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2023 (786 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A few days at the lake with some friends, some — or a lot — of drinks, tunes cranked up. The best part? Not much to worry about, because the cottage belongs to someone else.

When short-term renters and their guests conduct themselves in a civilized manner, it can be a win-win. A nice summer break for people without properties of their own, in exchange for generally reasonable payments to help owners with maintenance and upkeep.

What could go wrong?

“We wake up in the morning and the whole yard is littered with beer cans and bottles and garbage and the fire is still going at six o’clock in the morning,” said a frustrated lifelong resident of Lester Beach on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, a short distance from uber-popular Grand Beach Provincial Park. She did not want her name published.

“We’re surrounded by three (short-term rentals). Not just one — three.”

Renting summer properties for a few days, weeks or even the summer through word of mouth or private classified ads is a practice that has been going on, likely, since the first cottages were built well over a century ago. What’s new — and, in growing numbers, a nuisance — is listing available properties on third-party company websites such as Airbnb and VRBO.

And it’s not just noise and litter. Many summer communities have limited space for owners and their own families and friends to park vehicles.

In response, some cottage communities are creating local bylaws to regulate short-term rentals and they’re also pushing the provincial government to step in to legislate the growing industry.

In June, the midwestern district of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities voted to propose a resolution lobbying the province to do just that. If it’s approved by a majority of members at a convention in November, the association will be obliged to lobby the province on the issue.

Last year, the Rural Municipality of Alexander amended its zoning bylaw, requiring anyone wanting to operate a short-term rental property to first obtain a conditional use permit.

Gordon Campbell, vice-president of the Manitoba Association of Cottage Owners and treasurer for the Lester Beach Association, which represents property owners in the community, and which is within the RM of Alexander, said enforcement of the regulations for operating a short-term rental is a problem.

“The whole enforcement issue is another interesting (issue),” Campbell said. “What we have is peace officers who would drive around… a peace officer cannot ticket, all they can do is warn people.”

The frustrated resident said that after one owner was denied a permit the situation calmed down a bit. But the RM is stretched thin in terms of staff and resources to enforce the bylaw, she said.

“I believe if there is a regulation and enforcement strategy that each municipality can adopt then it would make it easier.”–Ian Drul

Some property owners aren’t playing by the new rules, RM chief administrative officer Giselle Smith said.

“We know that there are several (short-term rentals) that haven’t applied for conditional use,” Smith said. “Once we’re made aware that they’re operating a short-term rental, they’re made aware that they have to apply for conditional use and the process goes from there.”

Smith added that the municipality is in the process of implementing a fine for non-compliance with the licensing regulations.

One of the communities in the midwestern district is Harrison Park, located near Riding Mountain National Park, which already has a bylaw regulating the use of short-term rentals, but some residents feel it doesn’t correctly address the problem and the same people have mixed feelings on the issue.

The True Neighbours Alliance of Harrison Park takes the position that the community’s zoning bylaw already forbids short-term rentals, as it forbids the construction of businesses in residential zones. This same reasoning was used by the Local Government District of Pinawa after determining that its zoning bylaw already prohibited short-term rentals.

Lamont George, a member of the True Neighbours Alliance Harrison Park executive who lives year-round in the community, questioned whether the province has jurisdiction to legislate on the issue. He explained that the province has delegated authority over zoning to municipalities by way of the land-use guidelines in the Provincial Planning Act.

Bill Martin, who is also on the executive, says that while some problems related to the use of short-term rentals — noise, traffic and a shortage of parking — have been reduced, others have not.

“In our neighbourhood where our cabin is, we had four STRs around us and those are gone, those have been shut down,” he said. “however, we are part of the lucky group, because there are areas where the STRs continue to run, even when they’ve been denied (a) conditional use (permit).

“Enforcement seems to be the biggest obstacle. If we’re going to ask the province for one thing, it’s going to be enforcement.”

Harrison Park Reeve Ian Drul is also a co-director of the Midwestern District of AMM. He said that the idea of dealing with the issue of short-term rentals on a provincial scale is not unprecedented.

“Some province(s) throughout Canada have started bringing in rules for Short Term Rentals, (the) Quebec Government started regulating them,” Drul told the Free Press in an email.

“I believe if there is a regulation and enforcement strategy that each municipality can adopt then it would make it easier.”

Nathan Rothman, a spokesperson for Airbnb, said the organization works to ensure compliance with local laws as much as it can.

“We encourage hosts to follow local bylaws,” Rothman said. “Where we know of a local bylaw we will always inform our hosts of their obligations to comply.”

He added, however, it’s difficult to keep track of every bylaw and restriction in every community in which it’s used.

graham.mcdonald@freepress.mb.ca