Wise Property Management · Ottawa
Airbnb Management Ottawa.
For The Home You Live In.
Ottawa issues a host permit for your principal residence, and a separate cottage rental permit in the rural area. It is one of the few Canadian markets with a lawful route for a property you do not live in, and the limits on both are published clearly.
Ottawa permits short term rentals in your principal residence under a City host permit, and in one rural cottage under a cottage rental permit. A standard dwelling is capped at four sleeping rooms and eight guests, and five percent accommodation tax applies. Wise Property Management handles the permit and the operation.
Accommodation Tax
Municipal Accommodation Tax, applied to private homes as well as hotels.
Sleeping Rooms
In a standard dwelling unit. Eight in an oversize one.
Overnight Guests
Maximum in a standard dwelling. It has to appear on the listing.
Permit Term
Renewal is a full re-application, filed within thirty days of expiry.
What Ottawa Actually Requires
Four rules decide whether a property can operate at all. Every figure here was read off the City of Ottawa site on 15 September 2026 and is cited at the bottom of this page.
One Principal Residence, Worldwide
By-law 2021-104 defines a principal residence as where you are ordinarily resident, and requires that you have no other property designated as such in any other jurisdiction. Not one per city. One, anywhere.
City of Ottawa, By-law 2021-104
Four Rooms, Eight Guests
A standard dwelling unit is limited to four sleeping rooms and eight overnight guests. An oversize dwelling gets eight rooms and ten guests. The permit number and the maximum guest count both have to appear on every listing.
Published on the listing, not just on file
The Permit Runs Two Years
Renewal is filed within thirty days before expiry and, in the City’s own words, in the same manner as an original application. It is a re-application, not a rubber stamp. An Ontario licence or ID showing the property address is required as proof.
Permit and renewal handled under management
Five Percent Goes To The City
Municipal Accommodation Tax at five per cent has applied since 1 January 2024 and the City states plainly that it covers short term accommodation in private homes. Highest municipal rate of any market I run in.
Tracked and remitted under management
Ottawa In Public Data
Two figures from public registers and national statistics, both under open licences that permit this use. Neither is a revenue number.
Of the housing stock, 2021
1,565 of 605,768 dwellings in the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area were short term rentals that could otherwise house someone long term. This is the number the rules on this page exist because of.
Statistics Canada, 2021
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Short-term rentals in the Canadian housing market, Catalogue no. 11-621-M2024010, 2024. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. The Statistics Canada figures are for the 2021 reference year, which is the most recent published in that study. They are a housing supply measure and not a revenue estimate, and nothing on this site estimates what a property earns.
What I Run In Ottawa
One team instead of three vendors pointing at each other. Twenty percent of net revenue, month to month, no onboarding fee and no monthly minimum.
Guest Communication
Fast responses, pre arrival messaging, check in support and full stay coverage, on the same clock as every property under management. You never have to answer a guest.
Turnover Management
Scheduling, quality control, laundry and staging on every reset, with photo proof filed against the property. Outside Calgary the crew is local, vetted and run to the CleanStays standard.
Issue Coordination
Maintenance, access problems and urgent requests routed to a vetted local trade and quoted before any work happens. Nothing gets done and then billed.
Listing And Rate Strategy
Photography direction, title, description and amenity strategy, plus pricing and review management. In a capped market the calendar is managed for rate, not for occupancy.
Registration And Tax Admin
Registration, annual renewal, the licence number displayed on the listing, and accommodation tax tracked and remitted. The part owners forget until the city writes to them.
What Is Different About Ottawa
The two things that make this market unusual, and the one I will not pretend about.
There Is A Rural Route
Ottawa is the only market on this site with a lawful permit for a property you do not live in: a cottage rental permit for one cottage or home in the rural area, under Section 121B of the Zoning By-law. One host permit and one cottage permit per person, maximum.
I Will Not Quote You The Permit Fee
ottawa.ca states the host permit costs $112 for two years in its text and shows $606 for the same permit in its fee table on the same page. The table also prints a fee as “$5,1250”, which is not a number. A figure a city contradicts on its own site does not go on this page. Confirm it with By-law Services and I will build the plan around the real one.
Calgary Crews Do Not Drive To Ottawa
CleanStays and Wise Property Services are Calgary companies with Calgary crews. In Ottawa I manage the property and coordinate vetted local cleaning and trades against the same written standard. Said plainly here rather than implied everywhere else.
Why Guests Book Ottawa
Demand here is federal, seasonal and event driven. These are the drivers a listing is positioned against.
Parliament And The ByWard Market
Parliament Hill, the ByWard Market and the downtown core. Ottawa carries a weekday government and association travel base that most cities of its size do not have.
The Rideau Canal Skateway
The world’s largest skating rink runs through the middle of the city in February. It turns the deadest month of the Canadian calendar into a booked one, which is rare and worth pricing for.
The National Museums
The Canadian Museum of History, the National Gallery and the War Museum sit within a few minutes of each other. A wet or cold week does not empty this city.
Tulip Festival And Canada Day
The Canadian Tulip Festival in May and Canada Day on 1 July are the two highest demand windows in the year. These are the nights a calendar is built around, not filled around.
Ottawa Questions
Yes. Ottawa issues a host permit for a short term rental in your principal residence, and separately a cottage rental permit for one cottage or home in the rural area. A resident may hold one of each, and no more. A short term rental in Ottawa means a stay of less than thirty consecutive nights.
By-law 2021-104 defines it as the residential unit owned or rented by a natural person where that person is ordinarily resident and makes their home, and requires that they have no other property designated as a principal residence in the City of Ottawa or in any other jurisdiction. You cannot claim an Ottawa principal residence if you claim one somewhere else.
I am not going to give you a number for this, because the City of Ottawa publishes two. Its short term rental page states the host permit costs $112 for two years in the body text, and its fee table on the same page shows $60 administration plus $546 permit for the same thing. Confirm the current figure with Ottawa By-law Services before you budget, and I will build the plan around it.
A standard dwelling unit is limited to four sleeping rooms and a total of eight overnight guests. An oversize dwelling unit is limited to eight sleeping rooms and ten overnight guests. The City requires both the host permit number and the maximum number of overnight guests to appear on every listing.
The Municipal Accommodation Tax in the City of Ottawa is five per cent, effective 1 January 2024, and the City states that all short term accommodation is subject to it including accommodation in private homes. It is collected on the stay and remitted. It is not revenue and it never appears in your net.
No. Wise Property Management is a Calgary company and it manages properties across Canada. In Ottawa I run the property and coordinate vetted local cleaning and trades to the same written standard used in Calgary. The in house crews, CleanStays and Wise Property Services, are Calgary only. That is said here rather than discovered later.
Twenty percent of net revenue, month to month, with no onboarding fee and no monthly minimum. Cleaning is billed to the guest as a turnover fee rather than to you, and maintenance is quoted before any work happens. The fee is the same in every market.
Send Me The Ottawa Property
Three short steps. It takes about a minute, and it tells me enough to price the opportunity before we speak.
Got it.
I read every one of these myself. You will hear back with what the property should earn against the Ottawa rules and what it would take to run it.
Where These Numbers Come From
Every figure on this page, checked 15 September 2026. The permit fee is omitted because the City publishes two different ones. Confirm before you list.
Short Term Rentals, City of Ottawa
City of Ottawa. The host permit, the rural cottage rental permit, the two year term, and the fee table that contradicts the body text.
Read it at the source
Short Term Rental By-law No. 2021-104
City of Ottawa. The principal residence definition, the four room and eight guest limits, the thirty day renewal window and the $500 minimum fine.
Read it at the source
Hotel And Short Term Accommodation Tax
City of Ottawa. The five per cent Municipal Accommodation Tax and its application to private homes.
Read it at the source
Registration, night caps and accommodation tax are set by the municipality and change. Confirm the current rules, and your own condominium declaration or lease, before you list. Nothing here is legal advice.
One Principal Residence.
Send Me That One.
Tell me the property, the bedroom count and whether it is your principal residence or a rural cottage. You get back what it should earn and what it would take to run it.