Accommodation & Rentals · 6 min read · Last updated
The STR broker licence is the platform-side half of Hamilton's short-term rental regime under Schedule 32 of By-law 07-170. It is not for people who rent out their home; it is for the businesses that advertise, facilitate or broker those reservations and either take a financial benefit from them or hold the data on how many nights are booked. There are no inspections on this file at all, which makes it unusual in the accommodation group: everything is documentary.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “Any person who advertises, facilitates the advertisement of, or brokers Short-Term Rental Reservations via the internet, or otherwise and who: receives payment, compensation, or any financial benefit, due to, as a result of, or in connection with a person making or completing a Short-Term Rental Reservation; or collects, accesses, or holds information on the number of nights that Reservations of any Short-Term Rental are made or completed.”
Who needs this licence?
You need a broker licence if you advertise, facilitate the advertisement of, or broker short-term rental reservations, whether over the internet or otherwise, and you meet one of two further tests: you receive payment, compensation or any financial benefit because of or in connection with someone making or completing a short-term rental reservation, or you collect, access or hold information on the number of nights that reservations are made or completed.
That second limb is broader than people expect. A business that takes no commission but sits on the booking data still falls inside the definition, because holding night-count information is enough on its own.
This is a different role from the operator licence. The operator is the person renting out their principal residence for stays under 28 days; the broker is the intermediary that lists it. If you host guests yourself, you need an STR operator licence, not this one. If you run the marketplace, you need this one. A business doing both is looking at both roles, and the operator licence carries its own restriction of one licence per operator.
The applicant must be eighteen years of age or older and must provide an address of a place of business in the Province of Ontario, so a platform with no Ontario presence has to establish one to apply.
What documents do you need?
The broker package is entirely documentary. Start with the completed licence application form and a valid business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year of the application.
Then the applicant-level items: proof the applicant is eighteen or older, the address of a place of business in the Province of Ontario, and the name, phone number and email address of a designated representative. The designated representative is the City's point of contact, which is why the details are asked for specifically rather than left to a general enquiry line.
Insurance is where this licence differs most from every other file in the accommodation group. Three coverages are required: commercial insurance of no less than two million dollars, comprehensive crime coverage of no less than fifty thousand dollars, and cyber liability and privacy breach coverage of no less than one million dollars. The mix reflects what a booking platform actually risks: liability, dishonesty and data loss.
You must also provide details of the process by which your company will remove advertisements for a short-term rental where the operator has not obtained a licence from the City. This is the enforcement hinge of the whole scheme, since it is the broker that can make an unlicensed listing disappear. The checklist closes with an item concerning complaints, so be prepared to explain how complaints reach you and how they are dealt with; confirm the exact form of that item with Licensing and By-law Services when you file.
Zoning and premises requirements
There is no Zoning Verification Certificate on this checklist, and that is deliberate. The broker licence attaches to a business and its conduct, not to a property where guests sleep.
What the by-law asks for instead is an address of a place of business in the Province of Ontario. That is a jurisdictional requirement rather than a zoning one: the City wants a reachable Ontario presence, not confirmation that a particular building is zoned for accommodation.
Zoning still matters in the wider scheme, just not on your file. It applies to the dwellings your platform lists, through the operator licence, where a Zoning Verification Certificate is required for a secondary dwelling unit. If you want to reduce the number of non-compliant listings on your platform, understanding that operator-side requirement is more useful to you than anything on your own application.
Inspections and approvals
No inspections are listed for the broker licence. Nobody visits your office, and there is no fire, health, parking or property standards component, because there is no premises being licensed for guests to sleep in.
That does not mean the licence is untested. The scrutiny sits in the documents you file, in particular your insurance certificates and your process for removing advertisements where the operator has not obtained a City licence. Those two items are the ones a licensing officer can hold you to.
Expect your practical compliance burden to be ongoing rather than episodic. Keeping the designated representative contact current, keeping the three insurance coverages in force, and actually running the listing-removal process are what continued good standing looks like on this licence.
How much does it cost?
The broker fee structure is unlike the rest of the accommodation group. The application carries a single registration and licence fee, described in the guide as a one-time fee, with no processing fee and no inspection fees attached.
That headline fee is substantially larger than the licence fees for host-side and premises-based licences, which is consistent with it being a one-time registration for a business operating at platform scale rather than an annual charge per property.
The renewal fee is a separate, much smaller amount, and it is charged every five years rather than annually.
Neither the registration fee nor the renewal fee is shown with HST added. A broker whose licence lapses faces a reinstatement fee, as elsewhere in the by-law. The City sets all of these amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them with you when you apply.
How to apply
Start with insurance, because it is the long pole. Arranging commercial, comprehensive crime and cyber liability and privacy breach coverage at the required minimums, and getting certificates that show all three, can take weeks if your current programme does not include crime or cyber cover.
In parallel, confirm your Ontario place of business and choose your designated representative. Give a name, phone number and email address for someone who will actually respond, since this is the channel the City will use.
Write up the advertisement removal process before you fill in the form. Describe how you learn that an operator is unlicensed, who inside your company acts, and how the listing comes down. Prepare your complaints information at the same time.
File the completed licence application form with your business registration or corporate profile dated within one year, your proof of age, the Ontario business address, the designated representative details, the three insurance proofs and the process documents, and pay the registration and licence fee. There are no inspections to schedule afterwards.
Renewals and staying compliant
The broker licence is renewed every five years, which is the longest cycle in this group. Do not let that lull you: a five-year gap is long enough for insurance programmes and designated representatives to change several times over.
At renewal, Declarations A and B need to be completed, and you must again show proof of insurance at the same three minimums, commercial, comprehensive crime, and cyber liability and privacy breach. The renewal fee is charged every five years and is far smaller than the initial registration and licence fee.
A licence that lapses carries a reinstatement fee. Because the renewal date is so far out, set a reminder well ahead of it and treat the insurance certificates as the item to gather first.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Who needs a short-term rental broker licence in Hamilton?
Schedule 32 defines the broker by the intermediary role plus one of two tests: receiving a financial benefit connected to a reservation, or collecting, accessing or holding night-count information.
2. How often is an STR broker licence renewed?
The renewal requirements state the licence is to be renewed every five years, with a separate renewal fee charged on that cycle.
3. Which combination of insurance must an STR broker carry?
The broker checklist requires all three coverages at set minimums, reflecting the liability, dishonesty and data risks a booking platform carries.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.