More provinces should follow Quebec’s lead in holding short-term rental platforms like Airbnb accountable for uncertified listings, according to stakeholders familiar with the matter.
The government of François Legault introduced Bill 25 last Tuesday, which obliges platforms like Airbnb to ensure that the accommodations displayed on their site comply with the law, otherwise they risk fines of up to $100,000 per illegal listing.
These proposed rules would be the first in Canada, said David Wachsmuth, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Urban Governance at McGill University. Previously, Quebec and some Canadian cities only targeted hosts with unregistered ads, says Professor Wachsmuth.
He pointed out that Quebec already had “the best provincial approach to short-term rentals” through its registration system, but the problem was that many Airbnb hosts were still circumventing those requirements.
“What was missing from the Quebec approach was something that would encourage people to follow the rules,” he explained. “The new law requires Airbnb to receive the license itself from the host. I think it really changes the game in terms of the likelihood of people following these rules. »
More specifically, under Bill 25, the registration of a tourist accommodation establishment takes the form of a certificate containing various information determined by regulation.
The draft law prohibits the dissemination of an accommodation offer that does not contain the registration number or the expiry date of the registration certificate of the tourist accommodation establishment concerned.
A request from the municipalities
The bill came in response to calls from cities to limit the number of Airbnb-style rentals, which has taken apartments out of the long-term rental market and exacerbated housing shortages.
In March, seven people died in a fire at a heritage building in Old Montreal that housed illegal short-term rentals on Airbnb. The company later said it would voluntarily remove all non-certified listings in Quebec from its online platform and require all new listings to have certificate numbers.
Nathan Rotman, Airbnb’s regional policy manager for Canada, said in a statement that the company is reviewing the proposed changes to Quebec City.
Cities like Vancouver and Toronto have mandatory registration systems in place for short-term rentals, but according to Professor Wachsmuth, neither framework requires the platform to take the extra step of proactively validating the permit number of an advertisement.
Thorben Wieditz of Fairbnb, a coalition of regulated hotel and B&B industry groups, also sees Quebec as an example to follow.
“Some cities have a similar setup, but the province-wide approach is better because many municipalities and townships don’t have the financial resources to create a registry themselves and enforce the law,” said he argued.
” The government [provincial] essentially leveled the playing field for all communities in Quebec and I think we will see the same thing happen in British Columbia, where the government is working on a similar approach. »
Soon in British Columbia?
The British Columbia government has effectively signaled its desire to tighten the screws on Airbnb.
Last December, Prime Minister David Eby instructed new Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in his mandate letter to introduce “legislation establishing new tools for local governments to help them better regulate short-term rentals”. term in their communities.
This would be good news for the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, which has been calling for better regulation of short-term rentals in the province for five years, said its president, Jen Ford.
“It’s really expensive and difficult for local governments, especially in small towns or rural municipalities, to manage the regulation of these short-term rentals,” Ms.me Ford, a Whistler city councilwoman. “The urgency has been there for a long time. »