As of March 25, almost all Quebecers will be able to rent their homes to tourists under a new law that is going better than expected in the municipal world.
It will be remembered that in the fall of 2020, Quebec municipalities were hard pressed on the issue. With Bill 67, the Legault government was preparing to authorize all residents of Quebec to rent their main residence on platforms like Airbnb for a maximum period of 30 days.
The text of the law was “an attack on municipal powers in land use planning”, including zoning regulations, denounced at the time the president of the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ), Suzanne Roy, now minister at the within the Legault government. In order to calm things down, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, allowed cities to adopt a by-law limiting this right to certain areas. They had until March 25, 2023 to act.
However, as the said date approaches, it is clear that only a minority of the 1,130 municipalities in Quebec have done so.
What surprises the municipal lobbies who have fought to obtain this right. “I know, it’s not a lot,” noted in an interview the mayor of Saint-Donat, Joé Deslauriers, who is leading the file at the UMQ. “If the cities do nothing before March 25, [la location touristique] main residences, this is authorized de facto. “Concerned by the situation, the association has also multiplied communications in recent months to remind its members of the deadline.
“There may be municipalities that have never had a problem with short-term rentals,” said the president of the Quebec Federation of Municipalities, Jacques Demers.
Impossible to know exactly how many cities have legislated on the matter. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs does not keep track of data on the subject; neither do the municipal groups.
Upon verification, several major cities—Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau, Lévis—have not adopted any bylaws to this effect. During his research, The duty has however identified a few places, almost all in tourist areas: Orford, Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, Bromont, Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Beaupré, Ogden, Magog…
Maintain the status quo
In Magog, “it responded to a request from citizens,” says the mayor, Nathalie Demers. “We are a city where tourist accommodation is still quite attractive, with lakesides and all that. »
Even before the government legislated, the City had limited the possibility of using Airbnb and other platforms to certain areas. The new regulation was therefore intended to ensure that the new law did not invalidate the old one.
As required by procedure, the City submitted its bylaw to a registry in January. However, the citizens did not come in large enough numbers to justify the holding of a referendum. “There is only one zone – out of the 492 that we have – which wanted to have the right to do [de l’hébergement touristique]. Elsewhere, it’s the status quo, ”explains the mayor.
This counter-intuitive exercise has caused a lot of confusion among the population, she notes. “Usually people mobilize because they don’t want change. The register, usually, you come to sign it because you are against [un projet]. […] It was quite a communication challenge. »
The municipality of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, at the base of Mont Sainte-Anne, also adopted a regulation at the start of the year. “Short-term rental is a problem that we have known about for a long time”, indicates its general manager, François Drouin. “From the moment the neighbors change every weekend or regularly, there are inconveniences. Then the neighbor who caused the trouble, we hear about it on Monday, but he left on Sunday evening. »
The regulations of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges only allow the rental of a residence in certain places known to be more touristic. “In the sectors where it was already authorized, it has been maintained. However, it is prohibited elsewhere in the territory. »
A decision that did not make everyone happy. Hans Moreau, who has lived in the municipality for nearly 15 years, said he fell out of his chair when he discovered that the new bylaw would deprive him of a potential source of income. “I have been working on my house for a long time and it was in my plans to rent it out. […] It’s just an extra income that would be used to pay for holidays, ”explains the father of five children.
Mr. Moreau criticizes the municipality for not having properly informed the population of the holding of the consultation on the by-law. “In Magog, there were beautiful, very clear press releases. We, there was no communication in the newspaper. Yet it was an important regulation that affected a lot of people, ”he laments. He claims to be the victim of “social injustice”. “It means that people like me will not have access to small extra income. But also, it influences the value of my house. »
The city manager defends himself by saying that people who provide commercial tourist accommodation also complain about the competition resulting from the short-term rental of main residences.
As to whether the public was in a position to understand the process, Mr. Drouin put things into perspective. “It is certain that all the regulatory changes that affect uses on the territory, it is complicated. Then it’s not necessarily something that’s simple for citizens… But it’s not unique to this situation. »
All that for this
However, if for Mr. Moreau the entry into force of the law has a significant impact, several observers believe that not much will happen on March 25. For what ? Because the pressure exerted by the Airbnbs of this world comes mostly from second homes, not primary residences.
In a city like Saint-Donat, for example, main residences account for a tiny part of the housing stock, underlines its mayor. The City has also taken advantage of the approach of the March 25, 2023 deadline to consult its population on the supervision of short-term rentals in general, including that of chalets and other tourist residences.
Guillaume Lavoie, a consultant specializing in what is called the “sharing economy”, led the working group that recommended that the Legault government legislate on the issue. Three years later, he sees in the timid reaction of the municipalities a proof that this reform probably had its raison d’être. “One could assume that the Quebec regulations solve a host of problems,” he says.
“The reason why the government has done this is that there is no distinction between primary and secondary residence in municipal zoning. And the distinction is crucial, he says, since, unlike others, people who sometimes rent their own roofs do not reduce the supply of housing.
“The big problem is second homes, when people use them — especially in an urban setting — for short-term rentals. There, the cities have the right to say whether they want it or not. »