Airbnb, the short-term rental platform, has been a boom for some people, and a major bust for others.

Recently in Toronto, Canada’s largest city with a population of over 2.8 million, a condo owner won a case against a person who appeared to be part of a group renting units, only to turn around and rent them out for short-term stays.

The CBC’s Lauren Pelley reported that the owner of the condo came across photos of her place on a site and began investigating which led to proceedings, but with grey areas of the law, the case took some time to settle.

Fairbnb.ca is a coalition that has been lobbying for changes to the laws to protect homeowners and condo owners in locations that are zoned residential.

The organization got started in Toronto in 2016 when the abuses were becoming widespread and well organized. In a city with a shortage or long-term rental accommodation, these laws matter.

“We are a coalition of the regulated accommodation sector, meaning hotels, we are also a coalition of social housing advocates, affordable housing advocates, tenants associations, but we are also a coalition of a great number of citizens who actually live in neighbourhoods and condos that suffer from problems associated with the increase in short-term rentals in their own neighbourhoods and buildings.”  Thorben Wieditz told me in an interview today.

“Ghost Hotels”

He is a researcher with Fairbnb.ca, He says the group is in favour of home-sharing, but wants transparent regulations against the current practices that have led to what’s known as “ghost hotels”, as one example.