Dear Residents and Owners,
There was a firearms incident at ICE Condominiums on Tuesday, October 13, associated with a short term rental unit. Shots were fired, no one was injured, but the Police did arrest and charge 5 individuals. We have received many emails from residents expressing concerns about their safety and looking for answers from management as well as challenging building staff for not doing enough regarding short term rentals to protect them.
We are all concerned about this incident and we have been in contact with residents who have been directly affected by it extending all of the assistance that we could provide.
Given the serious nature of the incident and some questions about how was the issue handled we would like to share with residents some relevant information.
Please see attached document providing details in chronological order of what in fact occurred.
Was this short term rental illegal?
No. The unit in question is a registered short term rental within the building, which means that the Owner has provided proof of principal residence and has been notified of the following upon registration:
Owner agrees to comply with City Zoning By-laws and to ensure that all STR guests: 1) Sign-in with security upon arrival; 2) provide a copy of their unit reservation showing arrival and departure dates (to be uploaded by the short-term rental host in advance); 3) complete a screening questionnaire and temperature check (applicable during COVID-19 pandemic); 4) provide photo ID and contact information; and, 5) sign-in process will include a covenant by the short-term tenant to comply with all rules and health and safety policies. *Building access fobs for short-term rental guests will be restricted to only the front door of the building, with no amenity access, and no rear door or garage door entry. *Short-term rental units shall be temporarily removed from the building’s electronic entry directory.
However, despite of this, the owner’s agent did fail to register the guests and failed to take control of the situation with respect to their unit when contacted by Building Security. As such, a violation letter from management will follow and the matter will be escalated to the legal counsel of the Corporation for further enforcement.
Did ICE Condo board and management fail to take action regarding short term rentals?
ICE Condominiums was one of the first Condominium Corporations to invoke section 117 of the Condominium Act as early as March 26, 2020. Please see the article below:
https://www.thestar.com/business/20...ndos-to-ban-airbnbs-amid-covid-19-crisis.html
This was in place up until Stage 3. However, due to the immense pressure from
a group of STR landlords who oppose Corporation’s rules (i.e. Rule 9) and policies, it was agreed by the board to permit STR, however, now requiring STRs to comply with City’s short term rental by-laws (i.e. principal residence, etc.).
Toronto STR By-laws Enforcement, Calling 311…
Kindly note, management has reached out to the City on several occasions seeking assistance and cooperation with respect to enforcement against illegal short term rentals. To date, the City has not yet established a protocol that we could circulate to residents for reporting suspected illegal STR and related issues such as noise violations. We have been informed that when residents call 311 to report abuses, they are referred to the Toronto Police. However no action has been taken by the City or Toronto Police related to STRs. Police do respond, as they did in this matter when it is about public safety.
If you are a resident at ICE Condos and you feel that the City is not doing enough to help ICE Condominiums with illegal short term rentals, you may wish to reach out to Councillor Joe Cressy at
councillor_cressy@toronto.ca, and advise that we have a team readily available to work with the City towards enforcement of Applicable Zoning By-laws.
What is management going to do now that this happened?
We will be reviewing with the Board our on-going policies and rules related to STR. Furthermore, with the recent move back to a more restricted Stage 3, we are recommending to the Board that they consider re-establishing the prohibition of all short-term rental activities (being any rental that is less than 28 consecutive days).
Additionally, we continue to review our overall protocols, including increasing Security staffing during long weekends and holidays, given that we see an increase in STR activity, such as we just experienced and requires more building staff.
Finally, we are recommending that we adopt a no tolerance policy for unregistered guests who are disruptive upon entering the building and who do not cooperate when requested to provide their information. The goal of this, is to remove or prevent entry of people who will not abide by the Buildings rules and policies, and have no long-term interest in complying with the respecting the safety of the community. Ice is not a hotel, or a vacation resort, and we expect all visitors and guest to treat it as the home it is to the majority of the people living here.
Regards,
Fisnik Basha, Gen. Lic.
Senior Condominium Manager