A homeowner who says complaints against him are part of a neighbourѻý harassment campaign failed to convince city council to let him start renting out his luxury house again.
Peter Drummond had used his home at 381 Viewcrest Court in the Upper Mission for short-term rentals, but had his business licence revoked in March because of too many complaints. Council endorsed the staff decision at the time.
Drummond was informed in letters that due to repeated noise complaints his property was found to be operating in contravention of the cityѻý Good Neighbour Agreement and Good Neighbour Bylaw.
The cityѻý licence suspension policy states that three nuisance complaints can be enough to suspend a short-term rental licence. Drummond stopped renting out his home once his licence was revoked.
In an unusual design, the house has a pool in the front with the house wrapping around.
Drummond reapplied for the licence in April, but was turned down by the cityѻý licence inspector in June.
He asked council to reconsider that decision on Monday. After listening to his presentation, council with no debate or discussion approved the staff recommendation to reject Drummondѻý appeal.
Council was told in a report that more than 68 complaints had been filed by 22 complainants against the property over five years.
“Staff reviewed the complaint history and found over 50 nuisance and operational complaints dating back to 2021 when the short-term rental began operating,” the report said. “Based on this review, staff found that the subject property was not meeting the standards of conduct required to operate as a short-term rental accommodation and that the short-term rental accommodation was disturbing the peace, comfort and enjoyment of the neighboring properties and met the threshold to warrant a cancellation of the business licence.“
Drummond said most complaints came from one man who lives across the road. The complaints continued this summer, even though Drummond hasn’t rented the house out. He has had family visitors, he told council.
One complaint he showed in a Power Point presentation said that he had too many friends. Drummond said he never exceeded the six-guest capacity when he rented the house out.
“Itѻý clearly not about the Airbnb, itѻý about my family living in the house,” he said.