Living Beside a Short-Term Rental

Jeff Green | Jun 07, 2023

John Kemp is fed up, and doesn’t mind telling everyone and anyone about it. Even his local council.

Kemp, who lives on Otter Lake with his wife Tracey Mallen, spoke to the News on Monday in advance of making a presentation to South Frontenac Council on Tuesday evening (June 6)

He moved to Otter Lake about ten years ago to join Tracey at the home where she has lived since 2005.

Over the past dozen years, the couple have been living next to short term renters. For the first ten it was the property to the east of theirs on the lake.

The property was rented out through the VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) web service.

“During that time, everything and everything happened to us from the property, short of having our life threatened,” he said.

Damage was done to their property on a several occasions, he said. One time, they went to there was women sitting on their dock.

“When we told her that it was not the dock that came with the rental property, she said ‘I like this dock better and turned away’.

Another time they came home to find their dock totally under water, and their neighbour on the other side told them that a group of renters had been horsing around on the dock while they were gone.

“Finally, the guy on the west side of us, who had built their home themselves, couldn’t take it any more and they sold their property,” said Kemp.

If they had held on, things might be different for Kemp and Mallen now.

The property to the east sold as well, to a family who live there on a full-time basis and have become close neighbours.

The owner of the property to the west, however, sold it in the fall of 2022, realising a substantial profit through the COVID housing boom.

Soon after the sale, Kemp went to meet his new neighbour.

“I approached and said welcome to the neighborhood, and said there are great neighbours on the lake and if he needed anything he can just ask. He asked me if I was from Toronto. I said no, I’m from here. He just turned around and walked away. I haven’t seen him again.”

Since then, the property, which is a three-bedroom house, formerly built and occupied by a family of four, has been listed on Air BnB as a waterfront destination for up to 12 people.

John Kemp’s presentation to South Frontenac Council outlined a series of incidents and reports to the OPP, the township, and Air BnB, starting on November 5, 2022. In the first incident, the couple were in Kingston and received a text from a neighbour asking if they were having a party because of the noise coming from their end of the lake.

When they got home, they heard some very loud yelling coming from all over the property, saw 9 cars, 4 dogs, and an unknown number of people.

On November 27, the came home to find firewood had been stolen, which they reported to Frontenac Bylaw Enforcement and the OPP.

On December 5th, they encountered hooded people on their property with flashlights, which they reported as well.

Incidents have followed since them. They had made reports to Air BnB on at least 15 occasions over what is listed on the Air Bnb site, including pictures of their dock, as if it was part of the rental property, and about the fact that the house can not safely hold 12 people, to no avail.

He also noted that there have been fireworks outside of approves times, fires during burn bans, property damage from uncontrolled dogs, and more.

“We have had to put up no trespassing signs, a video surveillance system, and of course we now lock all of our doors. I think the worst of it is that Tracey no longer feels safe at home alone on weekends, so if I am away she will stay somewhere else,” he said during his interview with the News.

At the end of his presentation to council, Kemp pointed out that the number of properties listed in a search under South Frontenac has ballooned over the past few months.

“As of October, 2022, there were 700 listings, As of December there were 835, and as of May 31 there were over 1000.”

He told council that “strict regulation is critical to protect South Frontenac and South Frontenac residents.”

Short Term Rentals regulation was raised as an issue during the 2022 election, and in February the township sought public opinion on the matter.

“A bylaw is not sufficient, in my view, because it is too hard to enforce. A regulatory framework is the only way to permit shot term rentals while protecting the interest of South Frontenac residents. And it is the residents who support this township, the local businesses, the community organisations, everything,” he said.