By-law No. 2021-99 (amends 2021-57 - VRU/B&B licensing)

Niagara Falls, Ontario · adopted 2021-09-14

This is the exact embedded text of the captured official document. Snapshot a3dba37bb966 · verified 2026-08-23 · original document · archived snapshot · unofficial consolidation, the official version is held by the municipal clerk.

CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS By-law No. 2021 - 99 Being a by-law to amend By-law 2021-57, a By-law to regulate and license Vacation Rental Units and Bed and Breakfast Establishments. WHEREAS Section 8 of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, as amended hereinafter referred to as the "Municipal Act" provides that a municipality has the capacity, rights, powers and privileges of a natural person for the purpose of exercising the authority under the Act; AND WHEREAS Section 8 (3) of the Municipal Act, authorizes a municipality to provide for a system of licenses; AND WHEREAS the City of Niagara Falls has enacted a by-law to license Vacation Rental Units and Bed and Breakfast Establishments; AND WHEREAS it is desirable to amend the Licensing By-law No. 2021-57; NOW THEREFORE the Council of the Corporation of the City of Niagara Falls enacts as follows: 1. By-law No. 2021-57, Section 1 Definitions is hereby amended by addition the following: "Platform" means any software, technology, or service, including a smartphone application; "Premises" means land, property or any part thereof including any and all buildings or other structures thereon; "Vacation Rental Unit Brokerage" means any person who facilitates or brokers Vacation Rental Unit reservations for others, and who: (a) receives payment, compensation, or financial benefit due to, as a result of, or in connection with a person making or completing reservations of a vacation rental unit; (b) collects, assesses, or holds information on the number of nights that reservations of a vacation rental unit are made or completed; ....................................................................... ..................................................................... 2. By-law No. 2021-57, Section 14. Enforcement and Penalty Provisions is hereby amended by adding the following: 14.14 A court may, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, infer that a listing on the platform of a vacation rental unit brokerage or a public advertisement to the effect, and by any means, is proof that the premises is being rented or offered for rent as a vacation rental unit. For greater certainty, a witness need not possess special or expert knowledge for the court to make any such inference. Read a First, Second and Third time; passed, signed and sealed in open Council this 14th day of September, 2021. WILLIAM G. MATSON, CITY CLERK JAMES M. DIODATI, MAYOR