Hamilton Director of Licensing and By-law Services Monica Ciriello says the City will begin enforcing the City’s Short Term Rentals Bylaw on January 2, 2024.
City staff delayed implementing the bylaw when they bungled the City’s renoviction bylaw. City staff stated they would not enforce short-term rentals to meet a Council direction to provide a proper bylaw to regulate renovictions in 2023.
The new short-term rental bylaws state all operators must obtain a license from the City of Hamilton. The bylaw restricts short-term rentals to being located in the operator’s principal residence or on the same property as the principal address.
STRs are limited to 28 days or less for each stay.
Hamilton is also implementing a Vacant Home Tax in 2024. Both the STR bylaw and VHT are designed to bring more rental units onto the market.