Montreal is further tightening restrictions around short-term vacation rental platforms by boosting the number of inspectors and limiting when people can rent out their primary residences.
The city announced Thursday that people will only be allowed to rent their primary residences on platforms such as Airbnb between June 10 and Sept. 10, with some exceptions.
Mayor Valérie Plante said the city hopes the new rules will return as many as 2,000 units back to the long-term rental market.
“Today my message is that illegal business on the back of Montreal renters is finished,” Plante told a news conference.
The city says that despite efforts in recent years to crack down, more than half of the 4,000 units on short-term rental platforms are listed illegally.
The Quebec government tabled new legislation around short-term rentals in 2023, months after seven people died in a fire in an Old Montreal building that had been housing illegal short-term rentals.
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That law required short-term rental companies to ensure their online listings are certified by the province and made it illegal for anyone to advertise a short-term rental online without including the number and expiry date for their provincial certificate.
Many Montreal boroughs have limited full-time Airbnbs to certain commercial areas. However, rules were less strict when it came to renting out a primary residence, in order to allow people to temporarily rent while they were away for short periods, such as on vacation.
The city says the current rules have been hard to enforce, requiring officials to carry out investigations lasting up to a year to gather enough proof to issue fines. Plante said some people use different schemes to falsely declare a full-time rental as a primary home, such as putting leases under family members’ names or fake names and making false declarations of residence.
Plante said the new rules will shift the burden of proof on operators to show they’re acting legally and allow inspectors to issue fines of $1,000 a day as soon as a listing pops up outside of the allowable period. That can rise to $2,000 for second offences.
“The minute you post an apartment as available out of the period that is possible, you’ll get a fine,” Plante said. “If you rent it outside this period, you’ll get a fine, $1,000 for every location, every day.”
Even before her announcement, Plante drew criticism from Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx who accused her of trying to blame the province for her administration’s problems.
“Mayor Valérie Plante is looking for someone to blame for her inaction in providing housing and the big culprit is short-term accommodation,” Proulx said Thursday morning in Quebec City.
Plante retorted: “I don’t think a minister should be comfortable with her law being so flouted.”
The city is also increasing the number of inspectors to 10 from four.
Alex Howell, a spokesperson for Airbnb, said the new rules would hurt tourism to the city without resolving the housing crisis. In an email, Howell described the measures as “extreme rules that will weaken the economy, harm local businesses, drive hotel prices up and punish responsible hosts who depend on additional income during a cost of living crisis.”
The city’s new rules are expected to be adopted in March. Those who wish to rent out their homes during the permitted three-month period will need a permit, which costs $300.
Residences that already have a permit to operate legally as a full-time short-term rental won’t be affected by the new rules.
