Who loses?

When people run illegal businesses out of their residential units, there are more losers than you think.

The city
When businesses are run out of residential units, the city loses the difference in taxes that a residential unit pays compared to a commercial unit.

The hotel/motel industry
Sooner or later, the Toronto hotel industry will wake up to the increased competition they are now facing from transient hotel-styled suites in many of our condominium towers. (They started to in the summer of 2016.)

If hotels layoff staff due to the suite hotels, we will all will be indirectly affected.

The condo commercial units
There are mortgage brokers, tattoo parlors, lawyers, places of worship, day cares and cleaning companies operating out of residential units while there may be empty retail units on the ground floor that have never been occupied.

The residential owner-residents
They are the big losers. Over-crowded units means that all the other owners are paying for extra water and garbage removal costs. There is extra wear and tear on the lobby, elevators, amenities and the hallways plus increased security and cleaning costs need to be paid equally by all the owners so this is an direct subsidy from them to the owners of the overcrowded units.

Some business create extra costs. Hair stylists plug drains with human hair and hair-dye products. Illegal drug labs can cause partial building evacuations or may blowup part of the building. Sex workers bring strangers into the building.

The fight against transient rentals
Resident-owners, and long-term renters in condos get upset when they see that their homes are being used as inexpensive hotels. They feel that their security, privacy and the value of their investments are being compromised.

They also felt that the recreational facilities are less enjoyable when they  encounter a steady stream of strangers and that the transient occupants treat the facilities as if they are staying in a hotel. That is a loss of enjoyment of the common elements that was a major reason they bought their units.

Many owners in the newer condominium corporations are not aware that their declarations allow for short-term rentals, boarders and roomers and they don't realize that the developer has a subsidiary renting condo units as short-term hotel rooms in their building.

Wear and tear
The transient renters have no interest in the long-term upkeep, maintenance and repair of the building. They don't know the rules and they have no vested interest, as do owners and long-term residents, in abiding by them. There can be issues with late-night partying, noise, prostitutes, litter and increased wear and tear on the common elements.

Charles Hanes, a prominent Toronto condo Realtor stated on his blog:
"One rather disconcerting flash point that I've come across in Mississauga is what I see as an abnormal number of short term rental units in condos. In Tridel's Ovation condos, a four-tower development on Burnhamthorpe, for example short term rentals seem to have taken over!  If I was an owner in one of these towers I would be upset to say the least!"

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