Toronto’s short-term rental rules start with one requirement most hosts don’t expect: you can only register the home you actually live in. The City’s by-law lets an owner list a principal residence short-term, whether that means the whole home or just a room, but a second property or a pure investment condo can’t be legally registered at all. This guide covers what registration requires, the principal-residence rule, the 180-night annual cap, the Municipal Accommodation Tax, and what happens if a property operates without registering, scoped specifically to what an owner needs to know before listing a property, not to booking a stay. For the rest of what owning property in Toronto involves, see our complete Toronto real estate guide.
What registration actually requires
Under the City of Toronto’s short-term rental by-law, a “short-term rental” is any rental of all or part of a dwelling unit for less than 28 consecutive days in exchange for payment. Anything at 28 consecutive days or longer falls outside the bylaw entirely and isn’t treated as a short-term rental at all. Before listing a property on Airbnb, VRBO or any similar platform for a stay shorter than that, an owner has to register with the City first. Listing before registering, or continuing to accept bookings without a current registration, puts an owner offside the bylaw from the first booking, not just after repeated violations. Registration isn’t a one-time step either: it carries an annual fee, roughly $375 for a new registration and $390 to renew, and one host can hold only one active registration at a time, tied to the single property they actually live in.
The principal-residence-only rule
This is the rule most likely to surprise an owner weighing whether short-term rental fits their situation. A host can only register their own principal residence, the one home where they actually live, and the bylaw treats each host as having exactly one principal residence at a time. In practice, that rules out registering and renting out a second property or a condo bought purely as an investment. A property has to be where the registered host genuinely lives for it to qualify at all. An owner who splits time between two Toronto properties, or holds a unit specifically to rent it out short-term without living there, isn’t looking at a paperwork inconvenience. The bylaw simply doesn’t permit that property to be registered.
The 180-night cap, and how renting a room is different
Two paths under Toronto’s short-term rental rules: entire-unit rental capped at 180 nights a year, or renting a room while living in the home, with no night cap but a three-bedroom limit.
Registered hosts face different limits depending on what they’re actually renting. Renting the entire home, the whole unit, with nobody living there during the stay, is capped at 180 nights a year. Renting one or more rooms while the host continues to live in the home is a separate path: no annual night cap applies, though the host is limited to renting a maximum of three bedrooms. A host chooses one path or the other at registration, entire-home rental under the 180-night cap, or room rental with no night limit, and generally can’t switch between the two until the registration renews. An owner planning to rent occasional weeks while travelling needs to watch the 180-night ceiling closely; an owner renting out a spare room while living in the home full-time has considerably more flexibility on nights, offset by the three-bedroom limit.
The Municipal Accommodation Tax
Registered short-term rental operators are required to collect and remit Toronto’s Municipal Accommodation Tax, currently set at 6%, on rentals under 28 days. That rate has moved recently: it was temporarily raised to 8.5% from June 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026, and reverted to the standard 6% on August 1, 2026. For bookings made through Airbnb specifically, the platform collects and remits MAT directly to the City under its own Voluntary Collection Agreement, which covers the tax itself but not the paperwork: a host still has to log in to the City’s own portal and file a quarterly MAT report, simply excluding whatever revenue Airbnb already collected and remitted. Any booking taken outside Airbnb, whether direct or through a platform without a similar agreement, puts the collection and remittance responsibility back on the host entirely.
What happens if you operate without registering
Enforcement under Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 547 starts with per-violation fines that can run around $1,000. A matter that proceeds to a summons and results in a court conviction can carry a fine of up to $100,000, or a daily fine of up to $10,000 for each day a violation continues. This isn’t a theoretical ceiling: in 2026, a Toronto man was fined $1,000 for operating an unregistered Airbnb listing, even though no guest had actually stayed there yet. The bylaw treats unregistered listing itself, not just a completed unregistered stay, as the violation. Registering before listing, rather than treating it as something to sort out later, is the difference between a routine compliance step and a fine that starts at four figures and can escalate well beyond that.
Your condo corporation’s own rules matter separately
City registration and condo corporation rules are two completely separate hurdles, and clearing one says nothing about the other. Under Ontario’s Condominium Act, a corporation can prohibit or restrict short-term rentals entirely through its declaration, bylaws or rules, regardless of what the City’s own bylaw would otherwise allow. A City registration number doesn’t override a building’s governing documents; both sets of rules have to be satisfied at once. Common restriction language includes a “residential use only” clause, which some boards interpret as excluding transient short-term guests, a “no commercial activity” clause, or an explicit minimum lease term, often 30 days, six months or a full year, well past the City’s own 28-day threshold. For anyone weighing a purchase partly on its short-term rental potential, our guide to condo special assessments in Ontario covers more of how a building’s own governing documents shape what an owner can and can’t do, independent of anything the City decides.
Frequently asked questions
What does Toronto’s short-term rental bylaw actually require?
Registration with the City before a property can be listed for stays shorter than 28 consecutive days, which is how the bylaw defines a “short-term rental.” Anything 28 consecutive days or longer falls outside the bylaw’s scope entirely. Registration has to happen before a property is listed on Airbnb, VRBO or any similar platform, not after the fact, and listing without a current registration puts a host offside the rules from the first booking. The registration itself is tied to a single host and a single property, specifically the one the host actually lives in, which is the rule covered in the next question and the one that surprises the most owners.
What is the principal-residence-only rule, and what does it rule out?
A host can only register the home where they actually live, and the bylaw treats each host as having exactly one principal residence at a time. That generally rules out registering and renting out a second property or a condo purchased purely as an investment. It’s not a documentation hurdle that can be worked around with the right paperwork; the bylaw doesn’t permit a non-principal-residence property to be registered at all. Anyone considering a property specifically for short-term rental income, without intending to live there, needs to know this before treating short-term rental as a viable plan for that purchase.
Does the 180-night cap apply the same way to renting a whole home versus a room?
No. Renting an entire unit, with nobody living there during the stay, is capped at 180 nights a year. Renting one or more rooms while the host continues living in the home has no annual night cap, though the host is limited to a maximum of three bedrooms. A host picks one path at registration, entire-home under the 180-night cap or room rental with no night limit, and generally can’t switch between the two until renewal. This distinction changes the practical math considerably: an owner renting out occasional weeks while travelling has to track the 180-night ceiling closely, while an owner renting a spare room full-time has far more flexibility on nights but a hard limit on how many rooms.
What is the Municipal Accommodation Tax, and who’s responsible for it?
The Municipal Accommodation Tax, or MAT, is currently 6% on rentals under 28 days, after a temporary increase to 8.5% ran from June 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026 and reverted on August 1, 2026. For bookings through Airbnb, the platform collects and remits MAT directly to the City under its own agreement, but a host still has to file a quarterly report with the City themselves, excluding whatever Airbnb already handled. Any booking taken outside Airbnb, direct or through another platform, puts the full collection and remittance responsibility on the host. Registered operators are expected to collect and remit MAT regardless of which platform, or no platform, a booking comes through.
What happens if someone operates a short-term rental without registering?
Enforcement under Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 547 starts with per-violation fines around $1,000, and a matter that reaches a summons and court conviction can carry a fine of up to $100,000, or a daily fine of up to $10,000 for each day the violation continues. This isn’t a hypothetical maximum: in 2026, a Toronto man was fined $1,000 for an unregistered Airbnb listing before any guest had even stayed there, since listing itself without registration is the violation, not just a completed stay. Registering before listing is a routine step; treating registration as optional or something to handle later carries real, escalating financial risk.
Does my condo building’s own rules matter, separately from the City’s bylaw?
Yes, and this is one of the more important distinctions for anyone considering a condo specifically for short-term rental. Under the Condominium Act, a condo corporation can prohibit short-term rentals entirely through its own declaration, bylaws or rules, regardless of what the City’s bylaw would otherwise allow. A City registration doesn’t override a building’s own governing documents; both have to be satisfied. Common restriction language includes “residential use only” clauses, “no commercial activity” clauses, and minimum lease terms well beyond the City’s 28-day threshold, often 30 days, six months or a year. Checking a specific building’s declaration and rules before assuming short-term rental is possible there is essential, not optional.
Registration, night limits and a building’s own rules all shape whether short-term rental is realistic for a specific property. Get in touch with our team to talk through a specific address, or explore the rest of our guides for more on owning property in Toronto.