TORONTO --
A sweeping crackdown by short-term rental platform Airbnb has reduced the number of listings that don’t appear to be in compliance with new City of Toronto rules by the thousands – and a gap in enforcement may explain the hundreds that apparently remain.
An estimated 1,500 Toronto short-term rental listings still display licence codes that don’t match ones given out by city staff – including one code, “STR-1234-ABCDEF,” that Airbnb has now taken direct action against after a CTV News investigation.
The company says it filters new listings based on whether they declare they have a licence, but doesn’t check the city list, saying that’s a job for the city – so even an obvious fake might get through.