Short term rentals represent an estimated 77% of accommodation units in Haliburton County and are an essential part of the local tourism sector.  Traditional accommodators (hotels, motels, lodges and inns) have insufficient capacity to grow tourism traffic to the county.  The majority of local STR hosts host at one property, make less than $9K/year and host less than 50 nights/year.  STRs allow families, students, workers and tourists to enjoy the comfort of a home-like setting and a host’s experienced recommendations for things to do and places to see.

Haliburton County’s four municipalities have been considering STR by-laws since 2016.  After exploring regulating short term rentals via zoning restrictions and concluding that was an unworkable solution given how broadly represented STRs are geographically, the county shifted focus to a by-law approach.  Annual licensing, demerit points for infractions and requirements to reduce municipal liability (through carrying sufficient insurance and purchasing shoreline road allowance and/or licenses of occupation where applicable) will treat these entities as businesses despite the fact that most of them are sole operators.  

Despite having no records of the number or severity of complaints regarding STRs nor the enforcement resources to respond to complaints, a complex and expensive administrative infrastructure is being created to license, inspect, collect fees from and punish STR operators when existing bylaws – were they to be enforced – could have been focused on irresponsible hosts whose guests negatively impact their neighbours.

In 2024, all four municipalities passed their own version based on the county-developed template with an implementation date of October 1, 2024. It remains to be seen how many STRs apply to be licensed, what percentage are approved and what, if any, denials are issued and on what grounds.

Delegations to Council

A delegation was sent to both Algonquin Highlands and Haliburton County council meetings to present our concerns about the STR by-law. You can view these discussions here: