What public rules cover short-term rentals in Niagara Falls?

The City's handbook defines a vacation rental unit as a dwelling rented in its entirety for 28 consecutive days or less to a single group, licensed under By-law 2021-57, and says it must be in a tourist, general or commercially designated zone, with some zoning exceptions; operating one in a residential area is prohibited. A unit may have at most three bedrooms and needs two on-site parking spaces, and licences expire on 30 April each year. A bed and breakfast, where the owner lives on site, may have at most three guest bedrooms and needs zoning for the use and a building permit.

An owner-occupied short-term rental, a unit on the same property as the owner's principal residence, was allowed as a 14-month pilot of up to 100 licences; the City's page says applications closed on 30 September 2026 and that Council will decide whether to continue it. The Municipal Accommodation Tax is 4% of the room rate as of 1 April 2026, rising to 5% on 1 April 2027, on stays of 28 days or less. Whether a particular home holds a licence is a separate question.

• Vacation Rental Units: the City's licensing page: zoning, bedrooms and the application
• Vacation Rental Unit Handbook: the City's rules for operators, By-law 2021-57 and the zones (PDF)
• Owner Occupied Short Term Rentals: the pilot of up to 100 licences and its close
• Bed and Breakfasts: the City's licence for owner-occupied bed and breakfasts
• Municipal Accommodation Tax: the 4% rate from 1 April 2026 and 5% from 1 April 2027

Rental and short-term rental rules is in the free check as a summary of the City's by-law, from our hand-kept table, linked to the City's page. The full report adds the home-business rule. Neither says how a given home is used.

Free check: pick “Rental and short-term rental rules” See the sample report