It’s a pathetic crossover that we have witnessed in recent days between the City of Montreal and the Government of Quebec in the matter of short-term accommodation.
Who between the two should keep an eye on the thousands of illegally rented homes on the Airbnb platform?
Frame this jungle?
Crack down on the recalcitrant?
You ! No you !
It took a devastating fire in Old Montreal and seven victims, including 18-year-old Charlie Lacroix, for the system’s gigantic flaws to be exposed.1.
And for Quebec to stretch its legs and finally commit to better regulating platforms like Airbnb.
Monday was the parade of politicians in front of the ruins of the heritage building in Old Montreal, where several apartments were rented on Airbnb.
Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal, then Caroline Proulx, Minister of Tourism, took turns in front of the cameras.
They expressed their horror at the tragedy, of course. But they also (and above all) brilliantly illustrated all the confusion that reigns in the matter of short-term accommodation.
Revenu Québec inspectors, responsible for enforcing the Tourist Accommodation Actdo not have to sanction those who illegally rent apartments where it is prohibited, declared Minister Proulx.
Finally…yes, corrected his cabinet a few hours later.
Pretty stunning.
However, the rules surrounding short-term rentals are clear, on paper.
Cities (or boroughs) decide where they accept short-term rentals.
Those wishing to offer rental accommodation, within the permitted zones, request a certificate from the Corporation de l’industrie touristique du Québec (CITQ).
Revenu Québec collects taxes on all rentals made through platforms like Airbnb.
All these beautiful people communicate and have a clear picture of the situation.
In theory, therefore, everything is going well, but in reality, cities have all the trouble in the world enforcing their own regulations.
Of the 14,000 short-term accommodations offered on the island of Montreal, 92.5% do not hold any permits, according to the Inside Airbnb site.
Only in Old Montreal, where short-term rentals to tourists are prohibited, are hundreds of illegal accommodations posted on Airbnb.2.
The law of the market prevails, and to hell with the regulations.
Flushing out criminals is a real game of cat and mouse. Valérie Plante spoke of an “obstacle course” on Monday, and her description unfortunately seems quite close to reality.
I discussed it with Alain Barabé, former chief inspector of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a Montreal borough where short-term rentals are prohibited on almost the entire territory.
He explained to me the huge pitfalls he and his team of seven inspectors had to come up against in the field.
First, he recalls, the addresses of rental accommodation are not listed on the Airbnb site. We only see an approximate location, on a map, and rarely a photo of the facade.
To start an investigation, the inspectors must receive a complaint, or find a flagrant violation, such as waste piling up or a party that is too loud.
Once the accommodation has been identified, the true Stations of the Cross begin.
You have to convince neighbors to come and testify, which is never easy. Create a fake profile on Airbnb, in order to make a rental and prove that a transaction has taken place. Put together “evidence”, in short, to show before a possible court that the accommodation was indeed rented illegally.
“We have never been able to convict someone,” summarizes Alain Barabé, retired for a year and a half.
Plateau-Mont-Royal was already using these unsuccessful investigative techniques 10 years ago, former mayor Luc Ferrandez told me.
These methods are still used today, confirms the current mayor, Luc Rabouin. He told me of a real case, where a borough employee had to make a fictitious rental and file a file containing no less than 17 different documents and reports, in order to prove a case of illegal rental.
Too much time spent on a single file.
A drop in the ocean, above all: the Plateau-Mont-Royal alone has nearly 3,000 accommodations offered on Airbnb, most of them without a permit.
Better (very) late than never: Quebec will finally change its rules to force Airbnb and other similar platforms to verify the compliance of accommodation offered for short-term rental.
Caroline Proulx intends to table a bill by the summer that will force these sites to require a CITQ registration number before publishing an ad. The verification will be “double”, she told me in an interview, since Quebec will also require them to publish a photo of the certificate.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, THE PRESS
Caroline Proulx, Minister of Tourism
“No matter what platform, what means of communication you use, you will have to have a double recording”, she hammered at the end of the line.
Quebec also wants to multiply and make the fines more salty, which can already amount to thousands of dollars. “If the landlord has 10 doors in Montreal and it is not legal, he will have 10 fines, and the platform, too, will have 10 fines. »
This regulatory change had already been in the plans since December, the minister maintains, but her announcement was certainly upset by the horrific fire last Thursday.
The big boost promised by Quebec will undoubtedly sweat the multinational Airbnb and all those who counted on short-term rentals to fatten their bank account. It might kick in the stretchers.
This reform could have a corollary beneficial effect.
That of reappearing, as if by magic, thousands of apartments in the traditional rental market, in the midst of a housing crisis.