A provincial planning tribunal has rejected an appeal by Airbnb landlords and upheld the city’s short-term rental rules in a decision that is being touted as a “major victory for tenants across Ontario.”The city’s bylaw amendments were approved by council in December 2017. But they were never enforced the following April as planned, because of the appeal at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT).In a written decision Monday, the LPAT said the city’s approved rules have the potential to return up to 5,000 homes to the long-term residential market. Those are the units where the property owners are not residing but rather using them exclusively as short-term rentals.“Even if you return only 3,000 it’s a huge win for renters in Toronto,” said Thorben Wieditz of Fairbnb, a pro-regulation coalition of tenant advocates, community groups, academics and hoteliers that participated in the appeal process.“These changes do not prohibit short-term rentals but permits and regulates them in a manner that does not displace households. They also provide opportunities to meet the needs of residents and visitors requiring or preferring short-term rental accommodation in a residential setting,” he said in a statement.Under the new rules, short-term rentals would be allowed only in landlords’ principal residences for up to 180 nights a year for an entire house or apartment. Property owners could also rent up to three bedrooms in their home year round on a short-term basis — a term the bylaw defines as no more than 27 nights. Alexis Leino, one of the landlords behind the appeal, whose legal costs were paid by Airbnb, also took issue with the bylaw’s prohibition on the short-term rental of secondary suites. Under the new rules, homeowners wouldn’t be allowed to rent their basement apartments as Airbnbs. Only the full-time resident of those suites could let those units on short-term rental platforms, ...
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