A Ramara resident is frustrated with the township’s short-term rental (STR) regulations as he looks to stay afloat amid interest rate hikes from the Bank of Canada.
Dipen Parekh, who resides in the GTA but owns his family’s cottage in the Washago area, said he can only afford the property for an additional six months before selling it or renting it — either short-term or long-term — at current interest rates.
He had hoped to use the property temporarily as an STR to ride out the hikes, but found the township’s regulations forbid him from doing so. Those regulations, he says, could force him to sell the property.
While he is willing to absorb the cost of the township's annual $3,000 licensing fee, his property lies within 270 metres of an additional STR, and Ramara's regulations forbid STRs within 300 metres of one another.
“I spoke to the ward councillor in my region. I also spoke to the bylaw officer,” Parekh told OrilliaMatters. “I explained my situation; I told them like I literally want to do it for like a year or so until the (interest rate) goes down.
“Just because of my situation, I can't afford mortgage payments. I just want to get some money so that I can afford to pay my mortgage still.”
Aside from managing the costs of the property, Parekh said he has no interest in operating an STR long term.
“We just want to use (the property) for ourselves. That's what we do every weekend, having a long weekend, we are out there in the water,” he said. “It's just for pure enjoyment and relaxation. We are not interested in short term rental — it's just the interest rates going up.”
Parekh expressed frustration with the regulations in Ramara, and hopes to find a way to legally operate a short-term rental within the township.
“I have other friends who have cottages in Huntsville, Bracebridge — I've never heard the situation of a 300-metre rule,” he said. “I don't know (if legally) a city can do something like this.”
While he is not opposed to renting the property, temporarily, for a longer period, Parekh said he suspects the demand for long-term housing rentals is relatively low in the area.
“There's not that much market for long-term rentals,” he said. “If it was in Barrie or somewhere, yes, I can imagine the long-term rental, possibly, but the city of Washago — no.”
Ramara Mayor Basil Clarke disagrees.
“I don't even know of any houses for rent,” Clarke told OrilliaMatters. “There's such a shortage of housing right now, so I disagree with (Parekh). A long-term rental, he certainly would be able to rent it out.”
While Clarke sympathizes with Parekh’s situation, the township’s STR regulations are in place for a reason, he said, noting there is a waiting list for licences for STR properties within 300 metres of one another.
“Of course we have sympathy … but we just will not bend on the bylaw with so many on the waiting list – it just opens the door for chaos,” he said. “It's unfortunate, but I mean, that's the only way we could come up with a good way to control STRs, to make them fit in retirement and cottage country.
“We limit it to one every 300 metres, just because we were getting entire streets in Lagoon City that were going to become short-term rentals,” he said.
Given the waiting list for a licence, Clarke also pointed out that other would-be licensees within 300 metres of Parekh’s property may have already applied, as well.
STR licences are not transferable to new property owners within Ramara, so if an STR property is sold, the licence is revoked, which opens space for someone else on the waiting list.
“Even though he's 270 (metres away), there can be two or three ahead of him on the waiting list. We tried to make it as fair as possible; it's first come, first serve,” he said. “There may be another one beside him already on the waiting list.”
Given issues with problematic short-term rentals, Clarke said the township is strict on STRs operating illegally.
“We still have issues with the illegal ones, but we charge them and our fines are quite heavy,” he said. “We're serious about it, and once we get them licensed, we don't tend to have problems anymore because they realize how precious that licence is.”
Parekh’s property is currently listed on AirBnb.
