Article content

Calgarians who rent out their rooms or entire homes on services like Airbnb will soon be required to obtain a business licence.

City council voted Monday to create a new tiered licensing scheme to create better oversight of the fast-growing market for short-term rentals and to ensure public safety concerns can be addressed.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Council votes to licence short-term rentals listed on services like Airbnb Back to video

The city has been grappling with the possibility of licensing short-term rentals since 2017 in response to complaints from Calgarians over high-traffic rental properties and a few headline-grabbing cases where police officers have been called in to manage unruly guests at a rental unit.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi called the licensing scheme “a good start,” but pointed out that more work will have to be done on the policy in the future to identify properties that are operating more like commercial businesses than residences.

“Overall this is the right way to go, however I think in some cases . . . we need to go much further,” said Nenshi.

The bylaw will come into effect on Feb. 1, 2020, but detailed plans for exactly how the properties will be regulated are expected to be released at a council committee in December.

The majority of hosts in Calgary will only be charged $100 for a business licence that would apply to properties with one to four bedrooms.

In the case of properties where 10 or more people can be booked to stay at a time, hosts would be required to obtain a $295 license and fire inspection.

mpotkins@postmedia.com

Twitter: @mpotkins