A group of organizations defending the rights of tenants is launching a website that lists all Airbnb-type rental offers in Quebec, in real time. The objective: to be able to quantify how many of these accommodations are offered on the tourist market, sometimes illegally, to the detriment of tenants.
The new abasairbnb website. org was launched on Tuesday by the Regrouping of Housing Committees and Tenant Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ).
According to the data collected, there are currently more than 26,000 rental offers on Airbnb in Quebec, including more than 19,000 short-term offers. The RCLALQ site also lists the offers on the VRBO (5200) and Booking platform. com (3600).
“With this new website, we want to offer Quebec tenants and groups who defend their rights an easy-to-use tool allowing them to measure not only the influence of rental platforms on the rental stock, but also the extent of the phenomenon of the uberization of rental housing, which we could describe as the transfer of a growing number of long-term rented apartments to these platforms”, underlines in a press release the designer of the site, Yannick Baumann. He is a doctoral student in geography at the University of Montreal and a member of the Collectif de Recherche et d’Action sur l’Habitat (CRACH).
The website also allows you to search by regions, municipalities and even neighborhoods.
The Airbnb platform has been in the crosshairs of the authorities since the fire that ravaged a building in Old Montreal in mid-March, killing seven people and injuring nine. Several units were rented illegally on Airbnb in this building.
No major drop since the fire
Despite the regulatory changes introduced since the fire, there has been no major drop in the number of rentals on this type of platform, indicates the RCLALQ. According to his review, as of February 28, 2023, there were 29,482 rentals offered on Airbnb in Quebec, of which nearly 80% were not certified.
Since then, the number of listings has dropped by around 4,000 on Airbnb, according to Cédric Dussault, co-spokesperson for the RCLALQ. However, during the same period, about 2200 new ads appeared on the VRBO platform. This “allows its users to publish an ad without including a registration number of the Corporation of the tourist industry of Quebec (CITQ), as required by Quebec law”, indicates the RCLALQ.
In addition, a large number of ads on Airbnb are still non-compliant, denounces Mr. Dussault.
Quebec is currently studying a new bill that wants to impose fines of up to $100,000 per illegal ad on platforms, which will themselves have to ensure that landlords comply with Quebec laws.
Last Tuesday, Airbnb indicated that it is ready to remove all offers of illegal accommodation on its site, but believes that it is the government’s responsibility to verify the compliance of offers.
The RCLALQ has been campaigning for several years for the Quebec government to ban all digital rental platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO and Booking. com.