Short Term Rentals

As a Registrant/Owner of a STRA, it is your responsibility to abide by Short Term Rental B2025-024. The Terms and Conditions, which form part of the application and by-law, are also made for easy reference to aide in safety of guests and the surrounding community.

As a renter, it’s important to ensure an understanding of some general by-laws while visiting or vacationing in Trent Lakes. The By-law Summary, including emergency contact information, shall be posted in each STRA for easy reference to guests.

All registered STRA's must display the Municipal issued registration number in all advertisements.

When submitting an application, in addition to general information such as owner information, number of guests, responsible person information, the following documents will be required:

• Floor Plans, drawn to scale with a straight edge and legible.
• Two (2) pieces of government-issued identification (one must be photo ID) must be submitted by the Owner, and this includes each listed director or officer of corporations.
• In the case of a corporation a copy of Articles of Incorporation, and if there has been a change to the list of officers and directors, a current Corporate Profile Report.
• If available a sewage system permit.

It is legislated that all waste deposited at each transfer station in the Municipality of Trent Lakes must have originated from within the Municipality. All persons depositing waste at any of the transfer stations must provide a municipally issued access card. Registered STRA owners may purchase Cottage Kits for guests to allow entry and disposal of waste.

Municipal staff will review sewage records to ensure the adequacy (i.e. handling capacity) of the sewage system to support the dwelling and the number of guests accommodated for the STRA to reduce any negative environmental implications.

In the event Municipal staff are unable to retrieve sewage system records, it will become the responsibility of the applicant to provide confirmation of an approved sewage system which may require a new sewage system install.

Applications will be reviewed in the order in which they are received. Municipal Staff will review for completeness. For any applications deemed incomplete, the applicant will be asked to provide any required information.

Once an application is deemed complete, Municipal staff will review septic records for the applicant property. Once records are retrieved and maximum occupancy of guests is confirmed, an invoice for a completed STRA registration will be sent out. It is estimated an invoice will be issued 5 business days from the date of a complete application. Once payment in full is received by the Municipality, a registration will be issued.

In the event STR complaints are brought to the Municipality’s attention, the Municipality will contact the listed responsible person as a first step to rectify any concerns. A responsible person’s contact information is provided to the Municipality to aid in rectifying concerns and the responsible person shall be able to respond within 90 minutes.

Depending on the nature or severity of the concern, some situations may be escalated directly to Municipal Law Enforcement or Ontario Provincial Police.

A main component for the accountability of STRA owners is the demerit point system. STRAs that have suspected violations will be investigated. If an STRA is found to be in contravention of any by-law, owners and/ or renters may be issued a penalty notice. Any person has the ability to dispute these through the AMPS appeal process .Only after the penalty has been confirmed through this process will STRAs be assigned demerit points. Once a property has reached four (4) demerit points, it may lead to a registration being revoked. Penalty amounts and the demerit point system are based on level of severity to aid in promoting compliance.