Less than a year after the entry into force of a widely flouted law, the Legault government is pulling its teeth and tabling a new piece of legislation to tighten the screws on Airbnb and other transactional platforms. So far, only 30% of housing advertisements complied with the law.
What there is to know
- The Legault government has made it compulsory to register your accommodation for short-term rental with a law that came into force in September 2022.
- Platforms like Airbnb had no obligation to ensure that accommodations displayed on their site complied with the law, and 70% of the listings were illegal.
- With a new bill, Quebec will impose fines of up to $100,000 per illegal ad on platforms, which will themselves have to ensure that landlords comply with Quebec laws.
“I had hoped that tourist accommodation platforms would be good corporate citizens. I really believed that they would respect the laws of Quebec and that they would only promote and market advertisements where there was the registration number. I was wrong, unfortunately, that was not the case, ”dropped the Minister of Tourism, Caroline Proulx, at a press conference on Tuesday.
With her bill, she will force transactional digital platforms like Airbnb to ensure that the accommodations displayed on their site are compliant. These companies will be responsible for validating the registration number of lessors using a registration certificate that the Department will send to permit holders. If companies don’t comply, they risk fines of $100,000 per illegal listing.
Landlords have not complied sufficiently, and the platforms we have discussed with have not taken the trouble to ensure the compliance of the ads they publish. Today, we are going to force them.
Caroline Proulx, Minister of Tourism
It wants to eliminate all illegal advertisements from digital transactional accommodation platforms and allow tourist customers to know if the rented accommodation is registered and complies with municipal regulations.
30% of ads comply with the law
This bill amends the Accommodation Establishments Actentered into force less than a year ago, on 1er September 2022. It created a mandatory registration regime for short-term landlords, who had to display this information in their listings.
But a few months later, the Ministry of Tourism found that it had been largely ignored by landlords. Only 30% of ads published on two major transactional sites comply with the law, the Ministry explained during a technical briefing on Tuesday. As early as December 2022, the authorities noted “the large number of advertisements still displayed without a registration number on digital tourist accommodation platforms” and realized that they had to modify the law “to further increase [le] compliance rate”.
Quebec is therefore showing its teeth, and it has nothing to do with the fire in a building in Old Montreal, which caused the death of seven people, said Ms.me Proulx. If Airbnb, for example, is caught running an ad that doesn’t contain a valid registration number, it could face fines of up to $100,000 upon assent to the bill. Other types of non-transactional platforms such as Kijiji, LesPAC or Facebook may be subject to the law by ministerial order if ever the recalcitrant tries to find a new place to rent their accommodation illegally.
If we find that there are little rascals who find ways to circumvent Quebec law, well, through the certificate, we can have more requirements for the platforms.
Caroline Proulx, Minister of Tourism
Digital platforms will also have to “designate a representative established in Quebec” who can be contacted by the Ministry of Tourism. Because the government realized along the way that it did not know who to call at Airbnb to ensure compliance with the law.
As for landlords, the bill will allow Quebec to impose fines of up to $50,000 on them if they publish “false or inaccurate registration numbers”. Quebec will also create a public register of tourist accommodation establishments.