Last reviewed: 27 July 2026. Time-sensitive: the City's temporary 8.5% Municipal Accommodation Tax period runs to 31 July 2026. Confirm the current rate with the City before you set pricing for August onward.
The short version
- Toronto's line is 28 days, not 30. A short-term rental is a stay of less than 28 consecutive days. That two-day difference from most cities matters enormously.
- Only your principal residence. Investment properties cannot be let for stays under 28 days. There is no way around this.
- You must register with the City and renew every year, and put your registration number on every listing, invoice, contract and receipt.
- Entire-home lettings are capped at 180 nights per calendar year. Renting rooms within your principal residence has no annual cap.
- 28 days and over is a different thing entirely. No registration, no cap, no principal residence requirement.
- Municipal Accommodation Tax applies to stays under 28 consecutive days. The rate was temporarily 8.5% from 1 June 2025 to 31 July 2026.
- Your condo board can prohibit it regardless of what the City permits.
The 28-day line
Almost everything follows from this.
The City of Toronto defines a short-term rental as renting a home or room for a period of less than 28 consecutive days. Anything at 28 consecutive days or more falls outside the short-term rental bylaw completely.
That means a 28-day booking:
- Does not require short-term rental registration
- Does not count against the 180-night cap
- Is not subject to the principal residence requirement
- Does not attract Municipal Accommodation Tax
This is why so much of Toronto's professional furnished-rental market operates on monthly terms. It is a legitimate and widely used route, but it depends on the stay genuinely being 28 consecutive days or longer, properly documented. Do not structure around the line without advice.
Source: City of Toronto, Short-Term Rental Operators/Hosts
At a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What is a short-term rental? | A stay of less than 28 consecutive days |
| Can I use an investment property? | No. Principal residence only |
| Entire-home night cap | 180 per calendar year |
| Room rental cap | None |
| Registration required? | Yes, and renewed annually |
| Number on listings? | Yes, and on invoices, contracts and receipts |
| Tax | Municipal Accommodation Tax on stays under 28 days |
| Can my condo board ban it? | Yes |
| Does 28 days or more need registration? | No |
The principal residence rule
You may only operate a short-term rental in your principal residence, the home where you live and which you use for your bills and identification. You may hold only one principal residence, so you cannot legally run multiple short-term rentals.
You do not have to be physically present during a guest's stay. You can let the entire home while you are away, within the 180-night cap.
Secondary suites and laneway suites can qualify where the suite is your principal residence.
You will need to provide documentary proof of principal residence when you register.
Registration
You must register with the City before operating. Registration is annual and must be renewed.
Once you have your City-issued registration number:
- It must appear on all advertising and listings
- It must appear on any invoice, contract, receipt or similar document relating to the rental
We are deliberately not quoting a registration fee. Three sources we checked gave three different figures for the current year. Take it from the City's registration page.
Platform verification. The City launched an API in late 2025 that platforms use to verify registration numbers. Airbnb and others require a valid number and may remove listings without one. The practical effect is that unregistered listings are now identified automatically rather than through complaints.
The 180-night cap
Entire-home rentals are limited to 180 nights per calendar year. Renting individual rooms within your principal residence is not subject to an annual cap.
Two things to watch:
Track across all platforms. The cap is on nights, not on nights per platform. If you list on more than one, you need a combined count.
The City audits. Detailed records of rental transactions should be maintained, and the City may inspect or audit at any time. Complaints go to 311 and are investigated.
Reporting indicates penalties for exceeding the cap are assessed per excess night, so the arithmetic gets expensive quickly.
Municipal Accommodation Tax
MAT applies to stays of less than 28 consecutive days.
Rate: The City's guidance states that from 1 June 2025 to 31 July 2026, operators must collect and remit 8.5%. That period ends four days after this article was reviewed.
Check the current rate before you price anything for August 2026 onward. The 8.5% figure was a defined temporary period, and the standard rate before it was lower.
Who remits: Airbnb, Vrbo and similar platforms generally collect and remit MAT automatically on bookings made through them. For direct bookings taken outside a platform, you collect and remit it yourself, filing a tax report for each reporting period. Filing is generally required even for periods with no bookings, so do not skip a nil return.
Condominiums
This is the layer that most often ends a Toronto plan, and it is separate from the City.
Under Ontario's Condominium Act, a condominium corporation can restrict or prohibit short-term rentals through its declaration, bylaws and rules. Many Toronto corporations have. That authority is independent of your City registration and your principal residence status.
If you live in a condominium, read the declaration and rules before registering. Getting a City registration number does not give you the right to operate in a building that prohibits it.
Penalties
Published figures vary across sources, which is itself a reason to check with the City. Reporting cites fines ranging from around $1,000 for operating unregistered up to $100,000 for serious or repeated violations, with daily fines for continuing offences, alongside delisting from platforms and potential loss of the ability to register.
Confirm current amounts and the penalty structure with the City of Toronto rather than relying on any secondary figure, including ours.
The bylaw has been amended
Worth knowing if you read anything written before 2025.
In 2023 the City evaluated how the short-term rental bylaw was working. In 2024, City Council adopted updates that took effect in three phases: 30 June 2024, 30 September 2024, and 1 January 2025. Among other things, the updates revised the definitions of short-term rental, principal residence and dwelling unit.
If a guide predates 2025, its definitions may no longer match the bylaw.
A practical checklist
- Confirm the property is your principal residence and gather the proof
- Read your condominium declaration, bylaws and rules before anything else
- Decide between entire-unit and room rental, and understand the different caps
- Register with the City and diarise the annual renewal
- Put your registration number on every listing, invoice, contract and receipt
- Set up combined night tracking across all platforms against the 180 cap
- Keep detailed transaction records for audit
- Confirm the current MAT rate for the period you are pricing
- Handle MAT yourself on direct bookings, and file nil returns when applicable
- If you are considering 28-day-plus stays instead, get advice on documenting them properly
Verified official sources
Named, not linked
- Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 547, Licensing and Registration of Short-Term Rentals
- City of Toronto short-term rental Municipal Accommodation Tax pages, for the current rate and reporting periods
- City of Toronto registration and renewal portal, for current fees
- Ontario Condominium Act, 1998, and your own corporation's declaration, bylaws and rules
- Canada Revenue Agency, for income tax treatment of rental income and the GST/HST position on short-term accommodation
Important disclaimer
This article is not legal, tax or financial advice. It is general information written for a non-specialist reader, by a key management company rather than a law firm.
Toronto's bylaw was amended in three phases across 2024 and 2025, including changes to core definitions. The Municipal Accommodation Tax rate cited here was set for a defined period ending 31 July 2026 and needs re-checking. Registration fees change annually and published figures disagree. Penalty amounts vary across sources. Your condominium corporation's rules can prohibit the activity entirely, independently of the City.
Verify against toronto.ca and your condominium's governing documents before acting. For a purchase or business decision, engage an Ontario lawyer and an accountant familiar with short-term rental taxation.
If you spot an error, an omission, or something that needs updating, please tell us and we will fix it.
