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Niagara Falls
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Letter to the editor: Rental properties are a fact of life in NOTL

SUBMITTED BY TONY CHISHOLM, NOTL.
OPINION

Dear editor:

Re: the letter: Who wants to live beside a party house?, published May 9, the answer of course is no one.

But then no one wants to have a noisy neighbour or be next to construction, yet these situations exist for all of us. We don’t evict noisy neighbours or cancel all residential construction or complain about it in letters to the editor.

In fact, many short-term rental owners are not “absentee” but live in town and try to make a small income from renting a second house. Many more have professional managers that live locally and enforce their house rules, such as no parties.

Many guests have pets or children and hotels or B&Bs aren’t suitable, yet they want to visit and stay in town, sometimes for a week or more. To suggest limiting rental homes to owner-occupied isn’t what the guests want and certainly isn’t feasible for most owners who don’t want to operate a B&B and serve breakfast to guests.

Rentals are a fact of life in this town. They are closely regulated and the licensed owners pay a substantial fee that helps pay for bylaw officers to enforce the rules.

If there is a complaint about a rental, the neighbour should first complain to the owner and if that doesn’t work, they should file a complaint with the bylaw officers. Part of the solution would be increased bylaw enforcement over the weekends. That way we can all be good neighbours.

Tony Chisholm

NOTL

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