Oro-Medonte Airbnb Rules 2026: Zones, Licensing, and the October 1 Fines

Oro-Medonte STR Rules at a Glance

Where Short-Term Rentals Are Allowed

Oro-Medonte regulates short-term rentals through zoning first and licensing second. The zoning question decides everything, and the Township's page states it without hedging:

"It is important to note that Commercial Accommodation is not listed as a permitted use in any of the Township's residential zones under the Township's Zoning By-law 97-95, as amended. Therefore, STRAs are not permitted in residential zones throughout Oro-Medonte." Township of Oro-Medonte, STRA and B&B Establishments Licensing page (checked August 27, 2026)

The Official Plan, as modified by the Ontario Land Tribunal, names the only two zones where an advertised rental is permitted:

"Commercial STRs are permitted only within the Village One (V1) Zone, including any (V1) Exception Zone, and the Residential Two Exception 123 (R2* 123) Zone." Ontario Land Tribunal, OLT-24-000037, March 30, 2026, paragraph 12

The Township identifies those zones on its licensing page as the Horseshoe Resort Condos and The Carriage Hills Resort and Carriage Country Club. Bed and breakfast establishments are a separate category, permitted as of right only in the Agriculture/Rural (A/RU) and Private Recreation (PR) zones, and the definition requires the dwelling to be owner occupied and the owner's primary residence.

The Township sorts every operator into one of two buckets, and the bucket you are in decides your deadline in the section below. In its own words, a "Legal STRA or B&B" is one where "zoning on the subject property permits a commercial Short-Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) or Bed and Breakfast Establishment (B&B)," and an "Illegal STRA or B&B" is one where "zoning on the subject property does not permit a commercial STRA or a B&B establishment."

The 28 Day Definition, and What Falls Outside It

"Short-term rental accommodation means any whole or part of a dwelling-unit advertised, used or maintained for the accommodation of the travelling or vacationing public for a period less than twenty-eight (28) consecutive days and includes Village Commercial Resort Units, but does not include a hotel, motel, boarding lodging or rooming house, residential care home, time share establishment and Village Commercial Resort Units that are part of rental or lease management program." Township of Oro-Medonte, STRA and B&B Licensing By-law Education Session, August 25, 2026, slide 3

Two things sit outside that definition, and both matter for owners in residential zones:

• Stays of 28 consecutive days or longer. A furnished rental for a month or a season is not a short-term rental accommodation. It is not caught by the zoning restriction and needs no licence.
• Rentals that are not advertised. The Township states that "STRAs that do not advertise are legal in all residential zones, agriculture and rural zones where dwelling units are permitted and do not require a license." The Tribunal put it the same way: a homeowner renting to a friend or colleague without advertising is permitted throughout the Township and needs no planning application or licence.

How We Got Here

The rules did not appear overnight. The dates, from the Tribunal's decision and the Township's page:

• October 5, 2022: the Township adopts a new Official Plan with short-term rental policies. The County of Simcoe approves it on November 14, 2023, which triggers appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal tied to those policies.
• March 22, 2024: the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Divisional Court, issues its decision in Township of Oro-Medonte v. Oro-Medonte Association for Responsible STRs. The Township hosts the reasons for judgment on its licensing page.
• March 30, 2026: the Tribunal approves revised STRA policies agreed between the Township and the remaining appellants, and orders the Official Plan modified. It refuses the parties' request to withhold the final order:

"However, the Tribunal is not satisfied that the quid pro quo arrangement between the Association and the Township amounts to a justifiable prerequisite or a true condition precedent to the approval of the revised policies. The request is therefore denied." Ontario Land Tribunal, OLT-24-000037, March 30, 2026, paragraph 24

• July 22, 2026: "At the July 22, 2026 Special Council meeting, Council unanimously passed the Township's Short-Term Rental Accommodations and Bed and Breakfast Establishments Licensing By-law (By-law No. 2026-078). The By-law is effective immediately."
• Week of August 3, 2026: education letters go to every listed operator, legal and illegal.
• October 1, 2026: penalty notices begin.

The point of that history for an owner: the policies are final. There is no pending appeal that will reopen where short-term rentals are permitted.

Licensing: Fees and Requirements

If your property is in the V1 or R2*123 zone, you can operate, but only with a licence. From the Township's August 25, 2026 education session:

• Fee: "For STRAs the license fee is $1,500.00 annually" and "For B&Bs the license fee is $500.00 annually." Licences "are valid for one year from the date of issue."
• Early application incentive: "Council has decided that the annual fee paid for 2027 will also cover the balance of 2026 for those operators/applicants who submit their applications within the next few months."
• Insurance: a certificate "showing a minimum liability limit of no less than two million dollars ($2,000,000) per occurrence for property damage and bodily injury... with an endorsement that covers a short-term rental or bed and breakfast establishment being operated on the property," maintained at all times while licensed.
• Application: submitted through the Township's Cloudpermit platform. The Township's checklist includes the licensing application form, a fire safety checklist, a site plan and a floor plan, proof of ownership, an Owner Licensee Code of Conduct, a Renter's Code of Conduct, a Responsible Person acknowledgement, septic system information, a written waste disposal plan for renters, and, where relevant, tenant, co-owner and licensing agent authorization forms. The Township warns that incomplete applications are not reviewed.

Enforcement and Penalties

Enforcement runs on two tracks: daily monetary penalties for anyone advertising or operating without a licence, and a demerit point system for licensed operators who break the rules.

Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPS)

Source: Township of Oro-Medonte, STRA and B&B Licensing By-law Education Session, August 25, 2026, slide 17. The Township adds: "Some offences can be applied for each day there is a violation, and can be stacked with other violations," and "If AMPS penalty not paid within specified time, the amount is placed on the property taxes."

Read the first two rows together. A house advertised on Airbnb in a residential zone after October 1 is both advertising and operating without a licence, and each day counts.

How the Township finds you

The Township has contracted a monitoring service. Per the education session: "Granicus monitors approximately 100 web sites for advertisements and will advise the Township of properties that are advertising and are not licensed." Notices go out asking for the advertisement to be removed, and "If the advertisement not removed, an administrative monetary penalty system penalty (AMPS) will be issued." The same contractor runs a 24/7 complaint hotline, and Municipal Law Enforcement Officers respond to noise, parking, overcrowding and other licence violations.

Demerit points for licensed operators

Licensees who contravene the rules "will be issued an order and earn demerit points that could lead to a license suspension of up to 14 days or revocation for one year." Points expire after two years, and "Once a property accumulates seven (7) demerit points within a 6-month period, the property owner will be advised that their license is suspended." The Township's slide lists operating without a licence at 6 points, exceeding maximum occupancy at 5, Fire Protection and Prevention Act or Building Code Act contraventions at 6, and any other bylaw contravention such as noise or burning at 3 to 4. Appeals go to a Licensing Appeal Tribunal whose decisions the Township describes as final. Schedule C of the licensing bylaw carries the full list.

The Deadlines

Council set the dates, and the Township published them on both its licensing page and the August 25 session. Verbatim from the session's "Next Steps" slide:

"Council has directed that by September 30, 2026, all legal (proper zoning in place) STRA and B&B operators that wish to operate in Oro-Medonte must obtain a license from the Township to remain legal, or they must cease advertising their STRA or B&B."

"For those properties that require a re-zoning to permit an STRA or B&B use, Council has indicated these property owners must apply for a re-zoning by September 30, 2026, or cease advertising. The property must be rezoned by January 30, 2027, or the STRA or B&B use must cease operating." Township of Oro-Medonte, STRA and B&B Licensing By-law Education Session, August 25, 2026, slide 18

One transition rule applies: "If property owners (legal) have applied for a license or (illegal) have applied for a Re-zoning Application and are proceeding through the review process, they will be permitted to continue to advertise while the application is being processed." There is no grandfathering clause in any of the Township's documents for operators who were running before the bylaw.

If Your Property Is in a Residential Zone

This is most of the Township's houses and cottages, including its subdivisions. An advertised rental under 28 days is not permitted there, so the choices are:

• 1
  Switch to stays of 28 consecutive days or more. Set the minimum stay to 28 nights on every platform. A furnished monthly or seasonal rental is outside the definition entirely, needs no licence, and is the route we recommend for a house in a residential zone. Our mid-term rental management runs exactly this.
• 2
  Stop advertising by September 30. If you keep the listing up past October 1 without a licence or a rezoning application in process, the penalty is $1,250 a day and it climbs from there.
• 3
  Apply to rezone, with eyes open. A site-specific zoning amendment is a public Planning Act process decided by Council, filed through Cloudpermit, and you must apply by September 30 to keep advertising during review. Weigh it against the Official Plan, which now confines commercial STRAs to the V1 and R2*123 zones, and against the Tribunal's own caution that an amendment "may not be adopted by Township Council" and that Council may "adopt the amendment with modifications, refuse to adopt the amendment, or fail to adopt the amendment within the timelines prescribed by the Act."
• 4
  Unadvertised use is fine. Letting friends, family or colleagues use the place without listing it anywhere is legal in every zone and needs no licence.

The Ten Settlement Properties

The Tribunal decision records that, as part of the settlement with the Oro-Medonte Association of Responsible STRs, "the Township has agreed to prepare a site-specific zoning by-law amendment to expressly permit STRs on 10 properties owned by members of the Association" (paragraph 21). Staff report DS2026-089, dated July 22, 2026, brought that forward as Zoning By-law Amendment Application 2026-ZBA-14 and recommended approval: to introduce a "secondary use" provision and definitions, and to rezone the ten properties with an Exception 394 (*394) Zone "to permit a Short-Term Rental Accommodation as a Secondary Use to a residential use on each of the properties."

The report lists them as 2192 Town Line, 4598 Line 5 North, 4524 Line 5 North, 15 Cathedral Pines, 1 Pemberton Lane, 68 Ward Avenue, 6 Cook Lane, 247 Moon Point Drive, 10 Beach Road and 1165 Woodland Avenue, and describes them as "three in the rural area of the Township, one in the Horseshoe Valley settlement area, three on Bass Lake and three on Lake Simcoe." Per the report, the zoning "would be applied to the properties on a permanent basis and the operation of the STRAs would be subject to the proposed licensing process which requires annual license reviews that could result in license renewal, refusal or revocation."

Two cautions. First, the report is a recommendation; confirm Council's decision with the Township before treating any of the ten as permitted. Second, these ten are the product of a litigation settlement, not a policy opening. The Tribunal was clear that the settlement does not bind Council and does not change the Township-wide rule.

Official Sources

Every figure in this guide comes from one of these documents. Read them before making a decision, and expect the fee schedule and forms to be updated by the Township over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every figure was checked against the Township of Oro-Medonte's published documents and the Ontario Land Tribunal decision on August 27, 2026. Fees, forms and deadlines can change; confirm with the Township before acting.