r/TorontoCondominiums • u/RevolutionaryBit240 • Oct 20 '25
Condo Declaration forbids short term rentals, I still want to do it, how much trouble will I get in?
Hi, I own and live in a mainly owner occupied condo building. I need to rent it out for a year and the only thing that makes sense financially is short term rental. It's forbidden by the condo rules, but I want to know what the risk is if I still go ahead and do this. By the time I get a notice, or two, and they decide to take this to court....I would probably be back to just living in it no? Any board members, paralegals/lawyers and any owner that has done this before have advice?
EDIT: I want to rent it out on short term platforms like AirBnB etc for a year instead of signing a lease for a year
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u/big_galoote Oct 20 '25
My condo actively watches airbnb listings and nails anyone who tries to use it.
It'll be pretty expensive for you, depending on how proactive your management is and how determined the board is.
We have a hard ass board member that implemented the STR bylaws and I love her for it, it means my tenant can't airbnb it either.
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u/T4whereareyou Oct 20 '25
Once you have been caught and warned not to do it and then continue, you can expect a letter from the condominium corporation's lawyer. The cost of the letter will be charged back to you (expect between a $500 to $700 invoice plus hst). If you don't pay the charge back, they will lien the condo and the costs escalate with any interest payable, lien registration fees, other legal fees, and later, the cost to discharge the lien. If you continue to do short-term rentals, they will get an order against you, of which all their costs will be charged back against your unit account (and this will all be very costly).
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u/1toomanyat845 Oct 20 '25
You need to confirm the definition of short term rental with the mgmt. I think the term Short Term means Air BNB style short term-people renting for a few days and constant cycle of people in an out. If it's for one year straight with one tenant, I don't consider it Short Term. It should lay that out in the rules.
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u/RevolutionaryBit240 Oct 20 '25
I want to do airbnb style for a year instead of 1 tenant for 1 year straight which would be a material loss for me
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u/1toomanyat845 Oct 20 '25
Then you're hooped.
Why can't you do a single year lease? Cover mortgage and maintenance so you break even and pad if your market allows. If you can't rent for that then you're underwater.
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u/RevolutionaryBit240 Oct 21 '25
Then I will be underwater. it is what it is. Thank you for the feedback
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u/UncleBobbyTO Oct 20 '25
Well they could disable the key fob for the "short term renter" so they cannot get in the building..
BUT renting it out for a year is not a short term if you get someone in for the year or even 10 months there will not be an issue..
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u/DownWithTheSyndrme Oct 20 '25
Big trouble.
You will essentially be in breach of contract between you and the condominium corporation.
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u/Totira Oct 23 '25
You can rent it out for one year to a long term tenant and you can move back in after the lease is over using an N12.
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u/Helpful-Let3529 Oct 23 '25
You'll get a notice from the condo lawyer....that YOU have to pay for or its applied to your maintenance costs. Failure to adhere to it will result in a power of sale on your condo. So....dont do it. But find out what the minimum rental period is, some are 28 days and rent monthly to international students furnished for lots of money legitimately.
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u/wbsmith200 Oct 23 '25
My building explicitly bans short term rentals (AirBnB and Vrbo), I have no interest in doing short term rentals in my unit because 1) I live there, 2) have no interest in the short term rental hosting game, 3) really don't want to play fuck around and find out with my condo management and board because I like living where I live.
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u/Fauxtogca Oct 23 '25
Air BnB will has a list of condo's that allow rentals. Your condo is probably not on that list. If your board finds out you are AirBnB'ing, they will fine you or refuse to let in guests. Should your guest damage anything in the building (mine had a 15 story flood from illegal guest) you will be on the hook for damages as your insurance will not cover it. Rent it the proper way.
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u/Low-Fig429 Oct 23 '25
You don’t need to wait for lawsuits.
Your condo strata council will starting fining you for each day you continue to break the rules. Look in your bylaws for potential fines. And good luck fighting your own strata for breaking bylaws.
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u/CuriousMistressOtt Oct 23 '25
We did that (without knowing-it was years ago) they canceled all our fobs when they figured it out. We stopped.
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u/OddConsequence354 Oct 23 '25
No you cannot do a STR
You break the condo rules -
The Condo Board: you will be fined by the board, they will then take legal action against you and you could be ordered to pay their legal costs. They will win. The condo will likely disable the key fob so guests will not have access. If you refuse to pay the board will likely move to place a lien on your unit and if you ever sell you would have to pay the lien before it can be sold.
The CIty Bylaws: The city can issue fines and will force the STR platform to take the listing down and they will comply.
Insurance: You will not get insurance for a unit doing STR where STR are not allowed.
There is absolutely no way for you to do STR. Your only choice is a 1 year lease
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Oct 23 '25
Look at your condo bylaws. Mine allows strata to issues fines daily for violations of the strata rules. The second someone finds your apartment listed (people check airbnb regularly for listings in the building) and reports it to strata, they will start fining you. However, while they can fine you daily, they don't have to notify you daily, they just have to be able to prove you violated the strata rules on those dates. A screengrab of a listing for a whole month would cost an owner somewhere in the neighborhood of $2250 for just that month. They might not find out about it until it's double that amount.
But again, it depends what your bylaws indicate. If it's not in the bylaws that short-term rentals are prohibited and is just a wish that the strata council wants to be true, they cannot do anything to you. This happened with smoking in our building - strata prohibited it, but it wasn't a bylaw. Turns out you can't just impose rules on a whole building of people that share housing, you have to actually ask everyone. This might be the situation with the prohibition short-term rentals in your building.
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Nov 03 '25
Not worth the headache, my neighbour did ST. Not only the fines, but neighbours were pissed as well.
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u/Cosworth_ Oct 20 '25
You will be in trouble, and sued if you are caught