In her otherwise quiet residential neighbourhood, Erika Hennebury was surprised to hear pulsing music and shouts from dozens of young partygoers late Saturday night. When four gunshots rang out, she said she couldn’t believe it, at first thinking they were firecrackers.

Hennebury and her partner ran to the front window of their home, perched high on Davenport Rd., and looked across the street where “kids were just pouring and pouring out of the house and taking off down side streets,” said Hennebury, mother of 6-year-old twins. She estimated there were about 100 young people outside and said she has never seen anything like it since moving into her home seven years ago.

She now fears the townhouse where the party took place has been turned into a “ghost hotel” — a house or apartment where the homeowner does not live, but rather rents out through services like Airbnb. It’s a practice city council has vowed to crack down on with regulations including that the homeowner must live on the premises. Council is to deal with the matter at its Dec. 6 meeting.

Toronto police confirmed shots were fired around 11 p.m. on Saturday. There were no victims, and charges have not been laid. “A lot of people were not co-operative with police,” said Const. Craig Brister.

The main floor of the townhouse appears to be listed on Airbnb by a host with the same first name as the homeowner, Dovran Mollayev. Three neighbours told the Star that Mollayev does not live at the location, which he bought a year ago. A nearby neighbour, who does not wish to be named for fear of conflict, said Mollayev gutted the house and converted it into three apartments.

Mollayev, who owns two other properties in Toronto, would not confirm he lives at the Davenport Rd. townhouse. He refused to answer questions about whether he was aware of the party Saturday, or about how the regulations proposed by the city may affect him.

As the number of Airbnb rentals in Toronto tripled from 2014 to 2016, residents raised concerns about noise, safety, housing affordability and taxation, according to the city.

City staff have recommended regulations aimed at preventing ghost hotels. The regulations include the residency requirement as well as a registration and licensing program for short-term rental activity.

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What happened on Davenport Rd. on Saturday is “just another indication of why we need regulation in this city,” said Thorben Wieditz of Fairbnb, a Toronto coalition that advocates for short-term rental regulations.

“It is a part of a growing trend where people turn their houses into ghost hotels to make a quick buck on the market, but also impacts the communities around them.”

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Airbnb said it has banned the guest who rented the listing at the time of the shooting. “We have zero tolerance for this type of behaviour,” said spokesperson Lindsey Scully in an email to the Star.

Negative incidents through Airbnb are “extremely rare,” she said, and the San Francisco-based company has a number of specific safety features such as risk scoring to “prevent bad actors from ever accessing our platform in the first place.” It also screens all hosts and guests against terrorist and sanction watch lists, but only does background checks for U.S. residents.