Have you ever flirted with the idea of turning your home into a part-time vacation rental? Maybe even tried it out for a season and found it wasn’t your cup of tea? You might want to make sure your old listing isn’t living on a website somewhere, or you could face a $2,000 fine from the municipality.

A local couple have a cautionary tale they describe as “an STA nightmare.”

Knowlton Hunter and Jennifer Warr have lived in the County for close to three decades. They are familiar with what can be a difficult bureaucracy. But now they have been caught up in clutches that won’t let go. 

When the couple purchased a trailer at Quinte’s Isle in the summer of 2018, they thought they might list their Picton home on AirBnB to make a little extra money.

“We rented it out for several days between late August and October of that year,” said Mr. Hunter. “It proved not to be our cup of tea, although we did garner some income. But we did all the prep and cleaning ourselves and decided that, as retirees, we didn’t really want another job.”

They informed AirBnB they were canceling the listing.

“We never heard another word from them. And we never had another inquiry about another short term rental.” Time marched on. The couple wound up leasing their Picton home to long-term tenants. Seven years went by.

On June 2nd, a ticket for $2000 arrived from the County’s Bylaw Department. The charge? “Advertising an STA without a license.”

The couple were bewildered. They checked AirBnB, searching for their Picton address. “We found a few pictures, our profile, and a notice stating ‘unlisted’,” Mr. Hunter said. “We tasked AirBnB to provide us with records of all our rentals from 2018 until the present. Except for those first few in 2018, there were none.”

At the Edward Building the following week, armed with receipts, they were told there would be a hearing, where they could plead their case.

When no notice of a hearing came by mid-August, the couple sent an email to the County asking for an update.

“We received an automated “do not reply” message stating our query was being sent to the appropriate department,” Mr. Hunter said.

In early September, a letter from the County dated August 27, the same day they had emailed their inquiry, advised them a “screening hearing” had been held. On August 27.

“We had not only been found guilty, but had to pay an extra $50 for failing to attend a hearing we had not been told about,” Mr. Hunter said.

Back at the Edward, they were told no appeal was possible, even despite the fact that Mr. Hunter and Ms. Warr had never been invited to the hearing.

In follow-up correspondence, the County’s Director of Corporate and Legislative Services, Sarah Viau, advised Mr. Hunter that penalty fines are issued under the authority of the County’s Administrative Monetary Penalty Bylaw. Such penalties  apply even when an operator took “all reasonable steps” to avoid them.

“Administrative Monetary Penalties are generally 
imposed on an ‘absolute 
liability’ basis, which means that they apply even if a 
person took all reasonable steps to avoid the 
contravention.”  

—Sarah Viau

“The evidence that you were not operating an STA, or that you had contacted AirB&B to advise that you were not taking any further reservations, would not have resulted in the cancellation of the penalty notice.”

That the County’s STA bylaw did not exist at the time of the couple’s listing is not pertinent. Neither is the fact AirBnB showed the home as “unlisted” and “unavailable for listing”  for over seven years.

“I would be very interested to know what agency is engaged in this process. Is it AI? Is there a reward?” wondered Mr. Hunter.

Winning the Endgame

Ms. Viau told the Gazette a Notice of Screening Review was sent on July 9 via non-registered mail advising that a hearing would occur on August 27. But the couple say the notice never arrived.

The County uses dedicated software by Hamari to ensure holiday rentals are licensed under the Short Term Accommodation (STA) Bylaw. On its website, Hamari says it “helps municipal leaders to Establish, Enforce and win the Endgame of Short Term Rental issues to help strike the balance between hospitality and community.”

The software scrapes short term rental platforms like AirBnB to identify unlicensed listings. “Contraventions of the bylaw include but are not limited to advertising an STA without a license and advertising an STA without including the municipal STA license number. 

“The scan of STA booking platforms captures any advertisement of an STA, not only STAs that include a listing’s availability. It is the responsibility of the short-term accommodation owner/operator to ensure a listing is removed from the booking platform if they are no longer operating.” 

Mr. Hunter and Ms. Warr have reached out to their councillors to note both that their home was listed before the STA bylaw came into effect in 2022, was “unlisted” on AirBnB, and that the County did not invite them to a hearing. Mr. Hunter has also sent a letter to every councillor detailing the situation.

Councillors contacted, however, refused to respond on the record to queries by the Gazette.

“We know County bylaws and these processes can be daunting but is there no common sense?” wondered Mr. Knowlton.