Montreal cities and districts do not have all the tools necessary to fully enforce their regulations governing commercial rentals on Airbnb, but Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante hopes that Quebec will find a solution to this problem.
“What we are hearing is worrying”, underlined Mr.me Plante, Tuesday press briefing. “So we are thinking about how we will better adapt our regulations, but that will require discussions with the government of Quebec so that we can be more agile together. Because there are people who specialize in this to circumvent the laws. So we always have to be more efficient. »
The mayor reacted to a report from The Press who explained, last Saturday, that the district of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve was having difficulty enforcing its by-law prohibiting commercial tourist rentals on its territory, because it was not able to verify where the residence was located principal of a citizen.
It is still permitted to rent your main residence to tourists occasionally, on Airbnb or other platforms. However, districts and cities cannot know where an individual’s true primary residence is.
“The City does not have the necessary tools. Only tax documents, from Revenu Québec or Revenue Canada, can formalize the principal residence of a citizen,” explained Pierre Lessard-Blais, mayor of the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Pierre Lessard-Blais, mayor of the district of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
“If someone lives in the Laurentians and has an address in the borough, it is impossible for us to know where their main residence is. We are faced with people who are trying to circumvent the law and it is certain that we spoke about this issue at Revenu Québec because it is Quebec which has the power to carry out the audit. »
To obtain a certificate of conformity from their district, a person could therefore make a false declaration, saying that it is their main residence that they want to rent out on a short-term basis on occasion. This certificate of conformity then allows them to register with the Corporation de l’industrie tourisme du Québec (CITQ) in order to advertise their accommodation on online platforms.
The Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Entraide logement committee denounces the fact that a new building in the neighborhood seems destined for rental on Airbnb and is preparing a demonstration on this subject next week. Currently, three of the 26 units in this building are advertised on the rental platform. For these three dwellings, three people registered in the “main residence establishment” category with the CITQ, after obtaining a certificate of conformity from the borough declaring that it was their main residence.