By Mike Baker and Lisa Gervais
It’s been a long, winding road as the County of Haliburton and its four townships prepare to usher in new short-term rental regulations, with Highlands East junior planner Kim Roberts saying the first steps towards implementation “haven’t been without issues.”
New STR bylaws are set to come into effect in Algonquin Highlands, Dysart et al, Highlands East and Minden Hills Oct. 1. However, not all townships will commence the licensing process, or enforcement as of this coming Tuesday.
All four have partnered with Granicus Canada to carry much of the administrative load. The company is responsible for launching a platform where property owners can apply for a license. Roberts said the hope was the platform would be available to residents from all four townships on Oct. 1, but that a phased launch was now planned.
“Granicus doesn’t appear to have, I would politely call it, resourced things appropriately internally and were a little less experienced with the Canadian market than they let on, so we’ve had some delays in terms of the launch for the application portal,” Roberts told Highlands East council Sept. 10.
She said the anticipated release for Highlands East residents is Sept. 30, with the other three townships coming online “a little later.”
Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter said his township is looking at an Oct. 14 start. “The bylaw comes into effect Oct. 1 but we are just not going to enforce it until we have the systems up and running,” he said.
He added the township has no issues with Granicus. “If you were doing this as one County of Haliburton thing, great. But we have to do four implementations and just the fact each one is slightly different because of some nuance, it’s taking a bit longer than they thought.”
New STR rules to be enforced in 2025
Roberts said the phased launch wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – she recently contacted a Tiny Township bylaw enforcement officer to ask about their STR rollout in August 2022 and was told staggering things produced the best results.
Carter said, “we have people calling us up and saying ‘I have people that want to book for Thanksgiving, or Christmas,’ so we’re just telling people ‘go ahead’. This was never about trying to ruin anybody’s business. The whole idea was to try to control things, and not cost the taxpayers money.”
He added if things aren’t working in the first couple of weeks, “we’ll change things. It’s like any big system, there’s a lot of unforeseen things that come up.”
Carrot versus stick
There will be a slight delay in Dysart et al too, mayor Murray Fearrey confirmed this week. He said the township is hoping to have its licensing software online by Oct. 14.
“There’s no problem… the bylaw comes into effect Oct. 1, but we’re not quite ready for it,” Fearrey said. “We want to make sure the system is up and running and the software is ready to go [before launching]. That way we won’t have to do applications twice.”
Fearrey encouraged all STR owners within Dysart’s limits to apply for a license as soon as the software is available.
Algonquin Highlands mayor Liz Danielsen echoed Carter and Fearrey, saying all four townships initially wanted to go live with licensing Oct. 1. She said AH is still hoping to start accepting and processing applications Oct. 1 but it might be a bit later. She said Granicus was challenged with new staff, and working with its Canadian branch, and rarely went live with four municipalities at the same time. She added enforcement won’t roll out until late spring or early summer 2025.
Roberts said that at her township, beginning Oct. 1, there will be an eight month “implementation process.” where the municipality will focus on educating the public about new requirements and encouraging voluntary compliance. Enforcement measures will be used solely for “really bad or dangerous” situations.
The township will start full enforcement of STR rules June 1, 2025, Roberts confirmed.
“We would first take more of a proactive approach – contact folks who are unlicensed. If we have particularly resistant operators, we would be in a position to use all the powers of the bylaw – orders, demerits, administrative penalties – to try and bring them into compliance,” Roberts added. “That doesn’t mean come Oct. 2 we’re going to go to every STR in Highlands East and stick an order on their door. The goal is to… work with people to get as much voluntary compliance as we can.”
Once implemented at all four townships, anyone wishing to rent all or part of their property out for less than 28 continuous days will need to secure a license.
For STR applications, Roberts said she hopes the process will be straightforward.
“Providing folks have information [such as] site plans, fire safety plans, affidavits – and there’s no red flags – we’ll be issuing licenses as they come in,” she said. Information advising people on what’s required for STR license applications are on all township websites.
Granicus did not respond to questions as of press time.
MAT roll out
Highlands East coun. Angela Lewis asked about the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) implementation, with that bylaw also beginning Oct. 1. Roberts explained they were two different programs and would each have their own rules and operate on separate timelines.
Algonquin Highlands, Highlands East, and Minden Hills each adopted a four per cent MAT tax, charged by property owners to renters and included on the final bill, while Dysart et al approved a two per cent rate.
“My understanding is MAT taxes are collected quarterly… everyone I’ve talked to I’ve let them know even if they aren’t licensed Oct. 1, if they’re renting and have people booking and you’re taking their money after Oct. 1, you need to charge that tax on your invoices and collect it,” Roberts said, noting the first batch of MAT tax monies are due Jan. 31, 2025.
