A landlord from Lac-Simon, in the Outaouais, is trying to have a municipal zoning by-law invalidated prohibiting her from renting her buildings to passing tourists. After failing in the Superior Court, she turned to the Court of Appeal.
Article 33 of the municipality’s Zoning By-law “directly attacks a class of citizens (tourists and passing customers) by discriminating against them illegally, to the detriment of other citizens, which is unacceptable in our society”, argued M.e Paul Fréchette in his statement of appeal filed at the end of January.
His client, Valérie Hamelin, is co-owner of three buildings in Lac-Simon. They are located in an area of the municipality where tourist accommodation (short-term rental to transient customers) is not permitted. In the summer of 2020, the municipality gave him a statement of offense for having advertised the use of tourist accommodation on an online platform.
Mme Hamelin replied a few months later, by asking the Superior Court to have the article against which it stumbled.
“The answer to the question of whether the municipality contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms must, in the circumstances, be negative,” wrote Judge Suzanne Tessier in a decision handed down last December.
The notice of appeal argues that the contested section is “highly discriminatory” and that Quebec “has never granted municipalities the power to regulate in the particular field covered by section 33 (short-term tourist rental to tourists )”.
Bill 67, adopted by Quebec in 2021, however contains provisions allowing municipalities to regulate Airbnb-type accommodation in main residences.
“As mayor, I don’t want to have Airbnbs as neighbors everywhere,” explained the mayor of Lac-Simon, Jean-Paul Descœurs, in a telephone interview. “We have designated areas in the municipality, and we want to have that in the designated areas. An Airbnb, I do not wish you one near your home on weekends, especially on a lake. »
The mandate to be given to a lawyer to defend the municipal regulations will be discussed at the next council meeting on March 3. “There are costs associated with that,” said Mr. Descœurs, whose municipality has less than 1,100 inhabitants.