
Enforce Stratford By-Laws

A Call to Level the Playing Field for All Accommodations
My property provides short-term accommodations for visitors to Stratford. My property is compliant with the rules, regulations, inspections, licensing requirements, etc., that are applicable to my category of accommodations. I collect MAT from my guests, and remit to the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA) in a timely manner. In other words, I play by the rules.
It is critical that all accommodations-providers in Stratford be held to the same standards, same obligations, same rules and regulations, and the same costs. Otherwise, the time, money, and resources the City spent in in creating/re-writing the by-laws was a waste. Broad-based compliance should be the goal for all of us; that is currently not the case, and will never be accomplished without sufficient enforcement resources in the by-law department.
I therefore urge the City’s leadership to:
- approve the by-law enforcement positions that have been proposed;
- hire qualified individuals into those roles with urgency;
- deploy those resources expeditiously and with an elevated sense of purpose to:
- assist unapproved properties in becoming compliant; OR,
- impose the applicable penalties outlined in the by-laws.
If the City fails to enforce its own by-laws equally and consistently, those of us who are playing by the rules will need to re-evaluate our approach to MAT collection and remittance, licensing, and other aspects of our business, until the inequities have been corrected.
Additional Background Information
In 2022, the City of Stratford passed by-law 130-2022, and amended 108-2004 in order to update the rules and regulations applicable to various formats of short-term accommodations (B&Bs, Inns, STR, etc.). Around the same time, the City passed by-law 93-2022, which implemented the Municipal Accommodation Tax, despite the struggles of the accommodation sector that was still reeling from the aftermath of COVID.
Despite the introduction/amendments to the applicable by-laws, there remain numerous short-term accommodation venues that are not compliant with the regulation, are not inspected, are not licensed, and are not collecting, reporting, or remitting MAT. This does not begin to touch on the risk of injury or worse occurring in an un-inspected accommodation. The sad events that occurred in Montreal should be a warning to Stratford.
The City’s explanation for this intolerable situation is the lack of by-law enforcement personnel. Yet, here we are, with enforcement positions being proposed, and our leaders are considering rejecting the idea. Promises were made during the by-law process and the introduction of MAT that some of the funds would be used for enforcement. The City is leaving significant sums of money “on the table.” More important, the burden of MAT, licensing fees, and the hassle of inspections is being unfairly and inequitably applied.
Comment