Own an Unusual Property in Toronto? How to Turn It Into a Short-Term Rental
Toronto has a house you could walk straight past without noticing. The Little House on Day Avenue went up in 1912, covers about 300 square feet, and people have been living in it ever since. It isn’t alone, either. There are coach houses hiding behind Cabbagetown Victorians, lofts carved out of old Junction factories, and every so often a deconsecrated church with 20-foot windows. Travellers will pay extra to sleep in any of them.
You can rent one out, but Toronto’s rules are tight. A short-term rental registration runs $390 a year, the property has to be your principal residence, whole-home stays are capped at 180 nights per calendar year, and a 6% Municipal Accommodation Tax applies to any booking under 28 nights.
Paperwork first, paint later
All of this lands on you before your first guest does.
| Rule | What it means for your listing |
|---|---|
| City registration | $390 a year, and the number must appear in the listing |
| Principal residence | You have to live there, and you get one registration only |
| 180-night cap | Whole-home stays only, counted per calendar year |
| Three-bedroom limit | Renting rooms instead? No night cap, three bedrooms max |
| Accommodation tax | 6% on stays under 28 nights, remitted quarterly |
None of it’s hard. It’s just easy to forget about while you’re busy sanding a spiral staircase. Plenty of owners hand the file to a Toronto Airbnb management company instead and let someone else chase renewals, pricing and the guest who messages at 11pm. Rules change, so check the City’s current framework before you list.
Let the strangeness do the selling
Quirk is your entire marketing budget. Name the odd thing in the listing title, whether that’s a fire pole, an 1890s tin ceiling, or a door that opens onto a laneway garden. Then photograph it properly. Wide shots at dusk flatter small, strange rooms in a way midday phone snaps never will.
History sells too. Guests who book somewhere peculiar tend to read every word first, so a paragraph about the foundry that used your loft in 1924 does more work than another line about fast Wi-Fi.
Be honest about the awkward parts, though. Ladder stairs, sleeping lofts and 200 square feet of floor look wonderful in photos and feel very different at two in the morning. Spell out what the place isn’t, and the wrong guest quietly books elsewhere.
There’s no shortage of beige condos in this city. Churches with 20-foot windows are rarer, and that’s the part guests are actually paying for.
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