To great ills, great remedies. Facing a skyrocketing property value on its territory, complaints from several of its residents and legal action, the municipality of Saint-Côme, in Lanaudière, has adopted new regulations to better regulate rentals. Airbnb-style short-term. But concerns remain.
The weather was gray and gloomy when the To have to in the municipality of Saint-Côme, in Lanaudière. But nature remains breathtaking in this municipality of 2,500 inhabitants, which is accessed by taking long winding roads. “It really is a unique village. It’s magnificent, ”recognized Bernard Paquin, who lives on the shores of Lac Clair, when we met him in his home last Tuesday.
It is therefore no surprise that the number of tourist residences has exploded in this municipality to reach more than 230 currently, in the opinion of the mayor, Martin Bordeleau, who sees this as an effect of the pandemic. “Since the beginning of COVID, there has been a frightening upsurge in the sale of properties for short-term rentals,” he recalls. An observation shared by Mr. Paquin.
“We’ve been living here since the 1960s and we’ve seen big changes over the past two or three years,” he notes. There are investors who simply buy to rent for the short term. »
Regulatory void
Residences intended for short-term rental have thus taken shape almost everywhere on the territory of the municipality in a context of regulatory vacuum surrounding this lucrative activity for many owners, but disturbing for many residents.
“Short-term customers don’t come to read Marcel Proust. They come to do the parties, they want to have fun. It lasts unbearable hours, and there are inappropriate behaviors, ”deplores in particular Jean-Denis Asselin, who chairs the Association Notre-Dame du lac Clair, which brings together more than 130 properties located on the outskirts of this body of water, in Saint-Come.
Following repeated complaints from residents related in particular to the noise generated by revelers who are temporarily staying in the municipality’s luxurious houses and chalets, the latter called on a security guard from the firm Garda last year, who was called in when complaints were filed by neighbors about Airbnb-style accommodation. Since then, he has distributed a few fines, which vary from 1,000 to 2,000 dollars, in addition to giving “a lot of warnings” to offending owners, indicates the mayor.
Slow down speculation
This initiative, which was renewed this year by opting this time for another security agency, is however not sufficient to manage all the nuisance caused by Airbnb having become “uncontrollable”, recognizes the mayor, who is on his third term in a row at the head of Saint-Côme. Especially, he notes, that these tourist residences, rented for several hundred dollars a night, increase the land value of the properties and their selling price. The municipality, faced with major labor problems, becomes less and less accessible to families wishing to settle there permanently.
Short-term clients do not come to read Marcel Proust. They come to “party”, they want to have “fun”. It lasts unbearable hours, and there are inappropriate behaviors
“We have properties for which 63 purchase offers have been made and which have sold for three times the price of the value [foncière]. And they were intended for people who wanted to do short-term rentals, ”notes Mr. Bordeleau. This speculation means “that local people who want to buy a house can no longer afford it. […] And there is nothing to rent” in the long term, sighs the president of the Association Notre-Dame du lac Clair, Jean-Denis Asselin, met in his magnificent wooden residence.
In order to curb this wave of speculation, the municipality therefore adopted last week changes to its urban planning regulations directly inspired by the model implemented in the Magdalen Islands and which aim to prevent the creation of new tourist residences. outside resort areas. These regulatory changes will officially come into force after a vote scheduled for May 18 within the MRC of Matawinie.
Short-term rentals will therefore only be permitted in certain pre-determined areas. These exclude the more urban sector of the city as well as Lac Clair, whose owners’ association filed a request for a declaratory judgment in the Superior Court last October so that Airbnb-type residences be considered businesses. in order to prohibit de facto the presence around this body of water.
“People at the municipality and the villagers have also probably understood that, like us, they do not necessarily want Airbnb” in their neighborhood, notes the treasurer of the Association Notre-Dame du lac Clair, Claude Laurent, about regulatory changes put in place to tighten the screws on short-term rentals in the municipality. “Our request has probably created a kind of awakening among many citizens. »
The same security officer responsible for responding to complaints from citizens in connection with short-term rentals will be responsible for enforcing this new by-law on the ground, with the support of the City, indicated Mayor Bordeleau. Owners of tourist residences who receive two successive fines will have their occupancy permit revoked for one year. “This year, it’s clear that tolerance is zero,” says the mayor.
Acquired right
However, the municipality’s new regulations provide for the application of an acquired right for the current owners of tourist residences, who can therefore continue to operate them outside the new permitted zones. Thus, for Lac Clair, the City considers that “people have acquired rights,” laments Mr. Laurent.
The group of owners of which Mr. Laurent is the treasurer therefore intends to rely on its approach before the courts to contest this notion of acquired right, which does not apply in the present case, in the opinion of the lawyer representing this association, Eric Oliver.
“Airbnbs in the Lac Clair area have never complied with municipal regulations. They benefited from the laxity of the municipality to continue to operate”, insists the lawyer, who deplores “a complete distortion of the concept of acquired rights” by the municipality of Saint-Côme.
Mayor Martin Bordeleau did not want to comment on the specific case of Lac Clair, since it is before the courts. A hearing date in this case has not yet been set.