Toronto Airbnb Regulations 2026: The Complete Guide for Hosts

Toronto Airbnb regulations 2026 guide

The 2025 version of this page got the shape of Toronto’s rules right and several of the numbers wrong — and in this bylaw, the numbers are where hosts get fined. It quoted a $375 registration fee. The City of Toronto now charges $390 to register and $390 to renew. It told hosts they must file detailed quarterly reports listing every booking’s dates, duration and revenue. No such report exists: the quarterly filing is the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) report, while your booking records are kept for three years and produced only when the City asks. And it said shared rooms could simply be rented all year, without mentioning that since January 1, 2025 you must lock in one rental type — entire unit or partial unit — for your whole registration term, or that a temporary 8.5% MAT rate ran for fourteen months and ended on August 1, 2026.

This page replaces it, checked line by line against the City of Toronto’s short-term rental operator page (last modified September 16, 2026) and the City’s MAT pages. Toronto’s rules live in one place — Municipal Code Chapter 547 — and they apply to every platform, not just Airbnb: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and direct bookings all count the same way. If you own or rent a Toronto home and take paid stays of fewer than 28 consecutive nights, this is the rulebook. Read the at-a-glance table first, then the sections on the two decisions that cannot be undone mid-term: your rental type, and your renewal date.

TL;DR

  • Toronto short-term rentals are governed by Municipal Code Chapter 547. A short-term rental is all or part of a dwelling unit rented for fewer than 28 consecutive nights for payment, on any platform. Hotels and motels are excluded.
  • Principal residence only. You can register exactly one home — the one you actually live in, the address on your bills, identification, taxes and insurance. A second condo or investment property can never qualify, no matter how it is structured.
  • Registration costs $390, non-refundable even if the City refuses you, and renewal for 2026 is also $390. Registration lasts one year from approval. Your number, in the format STR-0000-XXXXXX, must appear on every listing and on every invoice, contract and receipt.
  • Pick one rental type for the full term. Entire unit: maximum 180 nights per calendar year. Partial unit: up to three bedrooms while you live in the home, no night cap — but only one fewer bedroom than the home has in total, and never the whole unit at once. You can only switch types at renewal, and nights already rented that calendar year count toward the 180 either way.
  • The Municipal Accommodation Tax is 6% again. The temporary 8.5% rate that ran from June 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026 ended on August 1, 2026. File a MAT report every quarter, within 30 days of the quarter’s end, even if you had no bookings. HST of 13% also applies to short stays.
  • Enforcement is now physical. Since January 2025 every registered rental is subject to an annual compliance inspection, and you — the registered operator — must attend in person. No manager, co-host or representative can attend for you. Emergency contact information and exit diagrams must be physically posted in the unit.
  • The fines hosts actually meet are set fines: $1,000 for renting unregistered or renting a home that is not your principal residence, $700 for going over 180 nights, $400 for missing safety postings, $300 for record-keeping failures. Prosecuted in court, a violation can cost up to $100,000 plus $10,000 a day.
  • Non-compliance also costs you at tax time. Since January 1, 2024, section 67.7 of the federal Income Tax Act denies expense deductions in proportion to the days a rental was non-compliant — the income is still taxed in full.

Table of Contents

Toronto Airbnb regulations at a glance (2026)

Requirement 2026 position
Governing bylaw Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 547, Licensing and Registration of Short-Term Rentals
Definition All or part of a dwelling unit rented for fewer than 28 consecutive nights, for payment
Where you may host Your principal residence only — one home, one registration per dwelling unit
Registration fee $390, non-refundable, credit card only; valid one year from approval
Renewal fee (2026) $390, non-refundable; renew up to 30 days early without shifting the anniversary
Entire-unit limit 180 nights per calendar year, resetting January 1, counted across all platforms combined
Partial-unit limit Up to 3 bedrooms, no night cap; one fewer than the home’s total bedrooms; operator lives in the home
Municipal Accommodation Tax 6% since August 1, 2026 (temporary 8.5% from June 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026 has ended); filed quarterly
HST 13% on short stays; MAT is subject to HST if you are HST-registered
Inspections Annual compliance inspections since January 2025; the operator must attend personally
Records Keep transaction records 3 years; provide them within 30 days of a City request
Set fines $1,000 / $700 / $500 / $400 / $300 depending on the offence; court fines up to $100,000

Everything below expands one row of that table. For the application process itself, see our Toronto Airbnb licensing guide; for how long approval actually takes, see how long it takes to get an Airbnb licence in Toronto.

What counts as a short-term rental in Toronto

Chapter 547 defines a short-term rental as all or part of a dwelling unit rented out for less than 28 consecutive days in exchange for payment. A dwelling unit is a self-contained living accommodation with its own food preparation and sanitary facilities — which is why a basement apartment, laneway suite or garden suite counts as its own dwelling unit, a point that matters in the rental-type section below. Bed and breakfasts are included in the definition; hotels, motels, unpaid stays and student residences owned by publicly funded or non-profit educational institutions are not.

Three consequences follow from that definition. First, the bylaw is platform-neutral: a night booked on Vrbo or through your own website counts exactly like a night booked on Airbnb, including toward the 180-night cap. Second, a stay of 28 consecutive nights or more falls outside Chapter 547 entirely — which is why many Toronto owners pair a capped short-term season with longer stays, a strategy we work through in our guide to converting and mixing rental terms. Third, the bylaw sits on top of zoning: your home must be in a residential area, and registration does not cure a zoning or building problem.

Ontario has no province-wide Airbnb law. The rules that bind you are Toronto’s, and a host who moves the same listing strategy to Mississauga or Niagara Falls is under a different bylaw with different fees and caps.

The principal residence rule

Short-term rentals are permitted only in principal residences. Your principal residence is where you live and the address you use for bills, identification, taxes and insurance. You can have only one at a time, so you can legally run only one short-term rental — and there is only one registration allowed per dwelling unit.

You may be a homeowner or a renter, in any housing type: house, apartment or condominium. Two nuances catch people out. The City does not require a renter to obtain their landlord’s consent in order to register, and it does not investigate landlord complaints about consent — but your lease is a separate contract, and as a best practice the City itself says renters should confirm their rental agreement allows short-term renting or get written consent, because a landlord who objects can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board. And licensed multi-tenant house operators are prohibited from registering a short-term rental at all.

The City tests principal residence with paper. Since September 30, 2024, you must provide at least two documents in addition to your government-issued identification as evidence — utility bills, purchase or rental agreements, vehicle insurance or registration, notices of assessment, employment or financial statements are the City’s examples. You may also be asked to attend an in-person interview. Failing to provide evidence of principal residence when asked is a $700 set fine; renting or advertising a property that is not your principal residence is $1,000.

This rule is also why the popular workaround fails: registering a spouse, a numbered company or a property manager does not create a second eligible home. The registration attaches to the person and the address, and after a revocation neither the operator nor the address can be registered again for a year.

Registration: cost, documents and the number itself

Registration is online, through the City, before you advertise or take a single booking. Renting while unregistered is a $1,000 set fine, and platforms block Toronto listings that do not show a valid number. To apply you need:

  • Proof you are 18 or older and live at the address: an Ontario Driver’s Licence or Ontario Photo Card, valid and in good standing, with your name and address matching the application exactly.
  • Two additional principal-residence documents, as described above.
  • Details of the rental: the type of building and which parts of the home you will rent — this is where you choose your rental type, entire or partial.
  • An alternate (emergency) contact who is available by phone 24 hours a day during rental periods. You must obtain that person’s consent on the City’s consent form before submitting, and keep a record of it.
  • A credit card. The $390 fee is payable by Visa, MasterCard or American Express only — the system does not accept debit cards, Visa Debit or gift cards. The fee is non-refundable whether your application is approved, denied or refused.

If approved, your registration is valid for one year from the date of approval, the City emails you your registration number, and you receive the City’s Good Operator Guide. Apply early: the City warns that at high volume, processing can exceed 30 days, and some applications require additional review or a property inspection before approval. For a realistic timeline, see how long Toronto Airbnb registration takes.

Once issued, the number — format STR-0000-XXXXXX — must be included in all your advertised listings and on any invoice, contract, receipt or similar document. Less obvious, and the cause of many delistings: the information in your listing must be an exact match with your registration. A nickname instead of the full legal name on your ID, a missing unit number, a unit number in the wrong field, or a building name in place of the street address can lead the platform to remove your listing and cancel reservations. The City runs compliance audits with the platforms to find listings with missing, inaccurate or incomplete registration data. If you are delisted, the City asks you to email its compliance team with your listing link, legal name, address, registration number and the platform’s removal notice, then submit a screenshot of the corrected listing for approval before you relist.

Entire unit vs partial unit: the choice you lock in

Since January 1, 2025, every registration is issued for one rental type only, and it stays that type for the whole term. You can switch only when you renew.

Entire-unit registration

You rent the whole dwelling unit and are not present during the stay. The hard limit is 180 nights per calendar year across every platform combined, resetting on January 1. Renting an entire unit for more than 180 nights is a $700 set fine — and the count is the City’s, drawn from platform data, not yours.

Partial-unit registration

You keep living in the home and rent part of it — a private room or shared space. There is no night cap, but the bedroom arithmetic is stricter than most hosts expect: you may advertise up to three bedrooms, and only one fewer than the total number of bedrooms in the home. A one-bedroom home cannot register as a partial unit at all (one fewer than one is zero); a two-bedroom home can offer one bedroom; a three-bedroom home, two; a four-bedroom or larger home hits the three-bedroom ceiling. And a partial-unit operator can never rent out the entire dwelling unit at the same time. The full mechanics, with examples, are in our Toronto partial-unit registration guide.

The switch trap

Changing types at renewal does not reset your year. Once your property is registered as an entire-unit rental, the 180-night limit applies to all short-term rental activity in that calendar year — including nights you already rented as rooms. The City’s own example: rent as a partial unit for 150 nights, switch to entire-unit at renewal, and you have 30 nights left for the rest of that calendar year. The City applies the same combined counting in the other direction as well. Choose the type you will actually operate for the next twelve months, not the type that sounds more flexible.

Secondary, laneway and garden suites

A suite is a separate dwelling unit. You can short-term rent a secondary, laneway or garden suite only if that suite is your own principal residence — the place you live. If you live in the main house, you are not permitted to separately short-term rent the suite on the same lot, and in a duplex, triplex or fourplex you may only rent the unit that is your principal residence, never the neighbouring units.

Renewal, late fees and the 90-day cliff

Your registration is valid for one year from approval, and the renewal date is that anniversary. You can renew online up to 30 days in advance, and renewing early does not move the anniversary. The 2026 renewal fee is $390, non-refundable. Renewal is not automatic, and it is not unconditional: the City will check that the property is still your principal residence, that you remain eligible under the screening criteria, and that all of your MAT reports and payments have been submitted.

Miss the date and two things happen at once. You cannot legally short-term rent again until you have renewed and paid — existing reservations may be cancelled and listings removed — and cumulative late fees start accruing:

  • 1 to 30 days late: an additional $11.27
  • 31 to 60 days late: an additional $83.18 (cumulative $94.45 on top of the renewal fee)
  • 61 to 90 days late: an additional $160.69 (cumulative $255.14 on top of the renewal fee)
  • After 90 days: your registration is automatically cancelled. You must apply as a new registrant, pay again, and post the new registration number on every listing.

Cancellation has a further sting in the other direction too: if you cancel a registration yourself, no new registration is permitted at that property for one year from the cancellation date, and you still owe MAT on bookings up to the cancellation. The full renewal calendar is in our Toronto Airbnb registration renewal guide.

Taxes: MAT at 6%, HST, and the federal deduction denial

Municipal Accommodation Tax — 6%

Registered operators collect a 6% Municipal Accommodation Tax on all rentals of fewer than 28 consecutive days and remit it to the City quarterly, within 30 days of the end of the quarter. You must file a MAT report online for every reporting period, even if your home was not rented at all. Overdue MAT accrues interest at 1.25% per month, and failing to report or remit can lead the City to revoke your registration or refuse your renewal. What a late filing actually costs, step by step, is covered in our Toronto MAT late filing guide.

Watch the rate history if you are reading older guides: MAT was temporarily raised to 8.5% from June 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026, and that increase ended on August 1, 2026. Stays beginning on or after August 1, 2026 are taxed at 6%. Some platforms have signed a Voluntary Collection Agreement with the City and collect and remit MAT on your behalf — convenient, but it does not remove your duty to file the quarterly report, and the City holds you responsible for the correct amount regardless of what a platform collected.

HST — 13%

Short-term accommodation in Ontario also carries 13% HST. The City notes that MAT is itself subject to HST if you are registered for HST as an operator. GST/HST registration becomes mandatory once your taxable revenues pass $30,000 over four consecutive quarters. Our Ontario Airbnb tax rules for condo owners walks through how MAT, HST and income tax fit together.

The federal rule that makes compliance worth money

Since January 1, 2024, section 67.7 of the Income Tax Act has denied expense deductions for non-compliant short-term rentals. For tax purposes a short-term rental is a residential property rented or offered for rent for fewer than 90 consecutive days. If your rental was non-compliant for part of a year — unregistered, or operating where short-term rentals are not permitted — the denied amount is pro-rated: your otherwise-deductible expenses, multiplied by the non-compliant days, divided by the total days the property was a short-term rental. The rental income is still reported and taxed in full. Put plainly: a registration lapse is no longer just a bylaw ticket; it is a percentage of your year’s expenses disallowed.

Safety postings guests must see in the unit

Chapter 547’s in-unit duties are specific, physical and separately finable. For every stay you must:

  • Provide guests with information about your alternate (emergency) contact — the person reachable 24 hours a day during rental periods.
  • Provide guests with instructions on how to contact 911 emergency services.
  • Provide guests with an emergency exit plan — a diagram of exits from the building.
  • Post a physical copy of the emergency contact information and the exit diagrams prominently in the rental for the duration of the guest’s stay. This posting requirement has applied since June 30, 2024. A page in a digital welcome book does not substitute for the posted copy.

Each missing piece is its own $400 set fine: failing to provide emergency contact information, failing to provide 911 information, and failing to provide a diagram of exits are listed separately in the City’s fine table. Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are a separate obligation under the Ontario Fire Code — and, as the screening section below shows, a Fire Code conviction in the last five years can also block your registration. There are no City-mandated cleaning standards in Chapter 547; cleanliness is enforced by platform review scores, not by the bylaw.

Records, evidence deadlines and annual inspections

Records: keep three years, produce in thirty days

This is the duty the old version of this article misdescribed, so here is the exact rule. You must keep records of your short-term rental activity — the number of nights rented, the nightly and total price charged for each rental, and the rental type (entire home or room) — for three years, and provide them to the City within 30 days when the City requests them. Failing to keep a complete transaction record for three years is a $300 set fine; failing to provide records within 30 days of a request is another $300. The quarterly report you file routinely is the MAT report, and only that report.

Evidence: ten days

If the City asks for evidence that your registration should continue — proof of principal residence, supporting documents, or scheduling an inspection — you have 10 days to provide evidence satisfactory to the City. Failing to complete an inspection within a reasonable time may result in revocation.

Annual inspections: you attend, personally

As of January 2025, all approved registrations are subject to an annual compliance inspection. City staff may inspect all buildings and structures where the rental is registered, including interior and exterior areas, and review your documents. The registered operator is required to be present. Another individual, or a representative from an organization, cannot attend on your behalf — a rule with real consequences for owners who travel or who assumed a management company could simply handle the City. Obstructing an authorized inspection is a $400 set fine. What inspectors check and how to prepare is covered in our Toronto Airbnb inspection guide.

Changes: six days

You must inform the City within six days if any registration information changes — phone number, email, emergency contact details, or your identification. Failing to notify the City of a change is a $400 set fine. If you move, your registration at the old address must be closed and a new application submitted for the new principal residence.

If you use a manager or co-host

You may, but the liability does not transfer. As the registered operator you remain legally responsible for everything done under your registration number, including violations, fines and enforcement, and the City expects you to respond to its inquiries yourself rather than relying solely on a manager. Share your registration number carefully: it can be used to create listings you do not know about, and you are accountable for activity under it.

Condo boards, landlords and insurance: the gates outside Chapter 547

A City registration is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Three further gates sit outside the bylaw, and each can lawfully stop you on its own.

Your condominium corporation. If you live in a condominium, you must ensure your corporation’s declaration, bylaws and rules allow short-term rentals. Many Toronto buildings prohibit them outright, and a City number does nothing to override a building ban. Which buildings allow Airbnb, and how to check yours, is covered in Toronto condos that allow Airbnb and our guide to Toronto condo Airbnb board rules.

Your landlord, if you rent. The City will register a renter without landlord consent and will not police consent — but your lease will, and the landlord’s remedy runs through the Landlord and Tenant Board. Get consent in writing before you register, not after your first booking.

Your insurer. A standard homeowner or condo policy typically excludes paid guest stays. Operating unregistered also jeopardizes coverage, and a claim arising from an illegal rental is exactly the claim an insurer looks to deny. What short-term rental coverage should include is set out in our Ontario short-term rental insurance guide.

Fines and enforcement: set fines, court fines and refusals

Toronto enforces Chapter 547 through 311 complaints, platform data audits and inspections. Most hosts who are caught meet the set fine table first:

Offence Set fine
Failing to register a short-term rental $1,000
Advertising, facilitating or brokering an unregistered short-term rental $1,000
Renting or advertising property that is not a principal residence $1,000
Advertising a short-term rental without a registration number $1,000
Renting an entire unit for more than 180 nights $700
Failing to provide evidence of a principal residence $700
Discriminating on a protected ground; refusing a person accompanied by a service animal $500
Failing to notify the City of a change in registration information $400
Failing to provide emergency contact information, 911 information, or a diagram of exits $400 each
Obstructing an authorized inspection $400
Failing to keep complete transaction records for 3 years; failing to provide records within 30 days of a request $300 each

Set fines are the floor, not the ceiling. An operator issued a summons and convicted in court may face a fine of up to $100,000, a daily fine of up to $10,000 for each day the violation continues, and a possible special fine tied to the economic gain from the violation; for a corporation, every director or officer may face up to $100,000.

Beyond fines, the City holds three administrative levers. It can revoke a registration: you get 10 days to respond to the notice of intent — the window was cut from 40 days on June 30, 2024 — and after revocation, no registration can be issued for you or for that address for one year. It can deny an application or renewal under its screening criteria, which include property-related bylaw convictions in the last five years (noise, property standards, littering, turfgrass, and Chapter 547 itself), outstanding property orders, City remedial action at the property in the last five years, Ontario Fire Code or Building Code convictions in the last five years, and overdue bylaw fines that have not been paid or given a court-ordered extension. And platforms, working from City data, can delist you for nothing more than a mismatch between your listing and your registration record.

What the rules do to your numbers

The regulations are, in effect, a revenue formula. The 180-night cap limits an entire-unit operator no matter how strong demand is; the market context for those nights, from AirROI’s Toronto dataset for the twelve months to September 2026 (11,027 listings), is a median nightly rate of $150, an average of $232, and 47% occupancy. The City’s own registration data tells the supply side of the same story: an analysis of City registration data published in March 2026 counted 7,422 total registrations — a registered, principal-residence-only market, not an open one.

Worked through as labelled arithmetic, not a forecast: rent 150 of your 180 nights at the $150 median, across 50 bookings, with a $115 cleaning fee per booking (the current Toronto core one-bedroom turnover price). Nightly revenue is $22,500 and cleaning fees add $5,750, for a booking subtotal of $28,250. Airbnb’s single host-only fee of 15.5% — the split fee is gone; build this into your rate — takes $4,378.75. Pay the actual cleaning cost of $5,750 ($115 per turnover), $390 for registration and $600 for supplies, and $17,131.25 remains before a management fee, if you use one, and before mortgage, condo fees and income tax. MAT and HST do not appear in that subtraction because the guest pays them on top — but only if your pricing and platform settings collect them correctly. To model your own building, use our Toronto condo Airbnb income estimate.

Two planning conclusions follow. First, the cap makes night selection worth more than night volume: 150 well-priced nights can out-earn 180 cheap ones, and nights used in a low-rate month cannot be re-spent in a peak month. Second, for homes that cannot fill 180 nights profitably, the partial-unit route (no cap, but you live there) and 28-plus-night stays (outside the bylaw, but inside tenancy law) are structural alternatives, not loopholes — each has its own section above for a reason.

The 2026 compliance checklist

  1. Confirm the home is your principal residence, and gather your Ontario ID plus two additional residence documents.
  2. Check the gates outside the City: condo declaration and rules, your lease if you rent, and your insurance policy.
  3. Choose your rental type — entire (180-night cap) or partial (bedroom-limited, no cap) — knowing it is locked until renewal and that a switch does not reset your calendar-year count.
  4. Register online, pay the $390 fee by credit card, and wait for approval before advertising. Budget for processing that can exceed 30 days.
  5. Put your STR number on every listing, invoice, contract and receipt, and make your listing name, address and unit exactly match your registration.
  6. Post the emergency contact information and exit diagrams physically in the unit; give guests the emergency contact, 911 instructions and exit plan.
  7. Set your systems for the money rules: 6% MAT collected and reported quarterly within 30 days (file even with no bookings), 13% HST handled correctly, Airbnb’s 15.5% host-only fee built into your rate.
  8. Keep transaction records — nights, nightly and total price, rental type — for three years, ready to produce within 30 days.
  9. Diarise three dates: your renewal anniversary (renew up to 30 days early), your quarterly MAT deadlines, and your annual inspection — which you attend yourself.
  10. Notify the City within six days of any change to your registration information, and answer City evidence requests within ten days.

If that list reads like a part-time job, it is one — which is why many owners hand registration tracking, MAT filing, night counting and inspection readiness to a manager while keeping the legal registration in their own name, as the bylaw requires. Our step-by-step guide to starting an Airbnb in Toronto sequences the setup, and Home Again’s Toronto management service covers the ongoing compliance work for owners who would rather not run it themselves.

Frequently asked questions

Is Airbnb legal in Toronto in 2026?

Yes, under conditions. Short-term rentals of fewer than 28 consecutive nights are legal only in your principal residence, only with a City of Toronto registration under Chapter 547, and only within the rental type on that registration: an entire unit for at most 180 nights per calendar year, or up to three bedrooms while you live in the home with no night cap. The rules apply on every platform, and your condo corporation or landlord can still prohibit what the City allows.

How much does Toronto short-term rental registration cost in 2026?

$390 to register, and the 2026 renewal fee is also $390. Both are non-refundable — the registration fee is kept even if your application is denied or refused — and both are payable by credit card only. Late renewals add cumulative fees of $11.27 at 1–30 days, $83.18 at 31–60 days and $160.69 at 61–90 days; after 90 days the registration is cancelled and you must apply again.

What changed in Toronto’s Airbnb regulations since 2025?

The registration and renewal fee is now $390. The Municipal Accommodation Tax returned to 6% on August 1, 2026, after a temporary 8.5% rate that ran from June 1, 2025. Annual compliance inspections, in force since January 2025, now apply to every approved registration, with the operator required to attend in person. The January 1, 2025 rental-type lock also applies for a full registration term: entire or partial, chosen in advance, switchable only at renewal, with nights already rented in the calendar year counting toward the 180-night limit after a switch.

Can I Airbnb a second condo or an investment property in Toronto?

No. A short-term rental is permitted only in your principal residence — the one home where you live and receive bills, identification, tax and insurance correspondence. You can hold only one registration, and only one registration is allowed per dwelling unit. A second condo or investment property can be rented for 28 consecutive nights or more, which falls outside Chapter 547, but it cannot be offered for short stays. Renting or advertising a property that is not your principal residence carries a $1,000 set fine.

What happens if I host without registering, or go over 180 nights?

Hosting unregistered, advertising without a registration number, or renting a non-principal residence each carry a $1,000 set fine; renting an entire unit beyond 180 nights carries $700. The City can also revoke a registration — after revocation, neither you nor the address can be registered for one year — and platforms delist listings that fail City data checks. Prosecuted in court, fines can reach $100,000 plus $10,000 per day, and under section 67.7 of the Income Tax Act, expense deductions are denied in proportion to the period of non-compliance while the income remains fully taxable.

Can my condo board stop me even if the City registers me?

Yes. City registration and condominium permission are separate gates. The City’s own guidance is that condo owners must ensure their corporation’s declaration, bylaws and rules allow short-term rentals before operating, and many Toronto buildings prohibit them. A registration number does not override a building ban, and operating against your corporation’s rules risks enforcement by the corporation on top of the City’s regime.