The Town of Essex is moving forward with updates to their Short-Term Rental (STR) bylaw.
Council met Monday evening where they were asked to approve updates to be made to the existing STR bylaw in terms of licensing fees and the duration of the licenses.
In 2022, council approved the current bylaw, which states that the STR license will expire after three-years unless it's renewed or revoked. And the current licensing fee is set at $700 for the term of the license - meaning that annually the fee is $233.
As that first round of licensing renewals approaches this November, administration recommended revising the existing policy in order to bring the licenses and fees in line with other local municipalities.
Other fees in the region are much higher than Essex's, with a license in Amherstburg set at $550 with renewal costs at $500, Kingsville's fees range from $400 to $1,700, and a license in Windsor is $300 with renewal costs set at $240.
On Monday, Essex council approved moving from a three-year license to a yearly license at an annual cost of $500 which will be used to recover staff time and software costs.
Essex deputy mayor Rob Shepley says he's pleased with this change.
"I'm glad to see that the fees are going up, STRs shouldn't cost the everyday taxpayer any money and I think this is going in the right direction because even with the fees set out I don't think they quite cover their costs that they bring to the municipality."
Cory Simard, the Manager of Legal, Licensing & Enforcement for the town, says the one year opposed to three year licence is beneficial.
"What moving to a one year does is one, it let's us re-evaluate financially every year. It lets us keep more up-to-date information of the owners because in a three year period you're more likely to have home ownership change, insurance changes in the policy, there's different things that come up. So, one year allows us to re-evaluate more frequently."
Simard says the current fee is not sustainable.
"Between staff time, enforcement, software for licensing, our STR hotline, it doesn't work anymore. It's quite a bit too low, and it's much lower than most of the municipalities."
At this time, there are 93 Short-Term Rentals that are licensed in Essex.
The fire inspections for Short-Term Rentals will remain on a three year basis.
The Town's bylaw department responds to any complaints related to STRs, as well as conducts enforcement to make sure all advertised STRs are being operated in compliance with town bylaws.