Principal residence rules: Toronto vs Ottawa vs Mississauga

Three big-Ontario-city STR regimes all require you to host out of your principal residence — but each defines and enforces it differently. Side-by-side comparison.

Toronto, Ottawa, and Mississauga have all adopted "principal residence only" short-term rental rules. The headlines sound identical. The actual rules — what counts as your principal residence, how many nights you can rent it as an entire home, what the city checks at renewal — are very different.

The shared idea

In all three cities: you can only operate an STR out of the home you actually live in. You cannot license a second property, an investment property, or a vacant unit. This is the policy lever cities use to keep STRs from converting long-term housing into hotels.

Toronto

Principal residence proof: government ID, utility bill, insurance, or tax bill showing the same address. Two of these at registration.
Entire-home cap: 180 nights per calendar year when renting the whole home (no cap on partial-home stays where you''re present).
Secondary suite: you can also register one secondary suite (basement apartment) in the same building if it''s your principal residence — but only one suite, and the 180-night cap applies across both.
Enforcement: data-sharing agreement with Airbnb and Vrbo. The city sees every night you rented and will deregister you over the cap.

Ottawa

Principal residence proof: same documentary standard as Toronto. Submit at application.
Entire-home cap: none — but only one "host permit" per person, and it must be your principal residence. Rural cottages get a separate "cottage rental permit" with different rules.
Secondary suite: not eligible. Your principal residence is the unit you sleep in most nights of the year.
Enforcement: complaint-driven plus annual proof of residence at renewal.

Mississauga

Principal residence proof: drivers licence plus one of: utility bill, property tax bill, insurance.
Entire-home cap: 180 nights per calendar year, mirroring Toronto.
Condos: even if your condo is your principal residence, the condo corporation can ban STRs in the declaration. The City will not override the condo.
Enforcement: licence renewal annually; the City asks for booking platform statements showing nights rented.

What "principal residence" actually means

CRA''s test (the one all three cities anchor to): the home you ordinarily live in for most of the year, where your driver''s licence and tax filings are addressed, where you receive mail. You can only have one principal residence at a time, even if you own multiple homes.

Practical implications

If you own two homes (e.g. a city house and a cottage), only the one that is your principal residence can be licensed as an STR under these regimes. The cottage falls under whatever rural municipality''s bylaw applies — often more permissive.
Moving mid-year does not let you operate two STRs. Your principal residence is whichever home meets the test for the majority of the year.
Renting out your home while you''re away on vacation is still subject to the cap. The 180 nights does not reset because you''re travelling.