Sharraxaadda
What is it going to take to have some enforcement on the illegal rentals and Air BNBs and ridiculous parking in this city ? As someone posted earlier today there have been many complaints and still nothing done. Staff houses, flop houses etc with their lazy occupants who are too busy partying to shovel their driveways like regular home owners or long term renters and park on the street instead. Blocking snow removal and even neighbours driveways On my street there are several of these. Also the thinly veiled vacation rentals where if you ask you are told "oh it's friends visiting", it never is . How about starting with all the many vacation rentals on the many sites easily accessible via google. These houses are using city resources and before the city starts saying it's used up it's snow removal budget ( so that we locals potentially suffer with even higher taxes etc ) the sewer the extra water etc these homes use changing of beds every day and all the other services they use could be a good way to earn revenue if someone would start enforcing this and charging them as commercial ( which they are ). Maybe drop a dime to the CRA to see if they are claiming this extra income. Parking in general is a nightmare. We have to funnel all the traffic from the highway to downtown but there is no where to park. All the things we were warned about by other resort cities, still no enforcement. Any time anyone complains about parking the answer from bylaw is ALWAYS "not there when bylaw officer attended" Just take a ticket book and wander back and forth between 1st and Mackenzie and 3rd and Mackenzie and you'll have writers cramp by the end of the day . There is a ton of revenue for City coffers right there. Why is it left up to full time ( non room renters ) to take up the slack for the noncompliance ???
13 Faalladas
Director of Corporate Services (La Caddeeyey Rasmi ah)
Anonymous (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
lid26 (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Annoying neighbour (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
speakup (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Harry (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
J (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
lid26 (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Isticmaale bilaa aqoonsi ah SeeClickFix (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
J (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Bob (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
Vacation rentals are probably not suitable in every neighborhood or situation, whether its parking or noise issues, neighbors in a residential area have a right to enjoy their property without a commercial activity going on next door or across the street. Dealing with complaints after the fact is not working for the City or residents and the bylaw officers have to be pretty frustrated with the situation.
I think these complaints show that being a good neighbor is about doing the right thing, not just what makes you money.
Shawn (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)
This is a huge problem in Revelstoke that needs to be dealt with!
According to an article in the last Mountaineer there are currently 221 vacation rentals listed on Air BnB in Revelstoke up from 208 last year, with an average occupancy of about 69% per year. If these "businesses" are open all year that means that they are renting an average of 250 nights at an average per night of $404.00 they could be generating about $100,000.00 annual income.
There are only 13 legally registered vacation rentals in Revelstoke who have paid thousands of dollars to get legal it is totally unfair that the city refuses to deal with these illegal businesses. None of them are paying commercial property taxes or commercial water and sewer (which is about 3 times the residential rate) and it is doubtful that they are paying any income taxes on the money generated from their businesses.
One way to help deal with these illegal businesses is to report the address to Assessment B.C.
https://info.bcassessment.ca/contact-us they will investigate and re-assess the property to commercial taxes this may or may not stop their illegal activity
they can also be reported to Canada Revenue Agency to be audited for not reporting income.
If the city won't do anything maybe the Province or Federal governments will.
Shawn (Isticmaale Diiwaangashan)