Directly targeted by Bill 25 revising tourist accommodation, the Airbnb company nevertheless refused on Tuesday to appear before the elected officials of the National Assembly to comment on the legislative text.
The website specializing in short-term rentals was to participate in the morning in the special consultations surrounding the bill “to fight against illegal tourist accommodation”. However, at the start of the day on Tuesday, their names had been erased from the list.
The reason given: “Airbnb representatives have declined the invitation to participate in the consultations”, indicated to the Duty the committee secretary assigned to study the bill.
Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx’s Bill 25, however, directly attacks illegal rentals hosted on online platforms like Airbnb. The American company, which advertises tens of thousands of accommodations in Quebec, has been in turmoil since it was revealed this spring that several of its advertisements did not comply with the law. On the sidelines of a meeting with Minister Proulx, her representatives refused to speak to the media.
Since last year, it has been mandatory to obtain a registration number from the Quebec government to make a short-term rental. In March, Airbnb agreed to remove from its site all apartments that did not comply with this obligation. A survey of Duty had however revealed that it is very easy to put an advertisement online bearing a fictitious registration number, “123456”, for example.
By tabling a new bill earlier this month, Caroline Proulx wanted to force platforms like Airbnb to ensure the legality of all the ads they host. ” It will be [leur] job to check all that, “she said at a press conference.
Bill 25 provides for obliging any short-term rental establishment to obtain a “registration certificate” indicating in particular the address and the number of dwellings it houses, and to display it publicly. If adopted as is, it will require digital accommodation platforms to draw up clear portraits of their rental stock, which will be reviewed by the government.
The legislation comes on the heels of a fire that killed seven people in a building in Old Montreal that had several illegal short-term rentals.
Further details will follow.