$1.5M in fines given to illegal short-term rentals in Quebec

More than $1.5 million in fines have been handed out since April 1, 2023, to Montrealers who offered their accommodations on Airbnb without complying with the law, according to new data from Revenu Québec.

These new rules came after a fatal fire in Old Montreal where seven people died. Many of the units had been illegal Airbnbs.

After seven months, following new obligations under the Tourist Accommodation Act, Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx says she’s satisfied with the compliance rate of short-term accommodation rental ads on digital platforms.

“Regulators all across the country are looking at what’s happening in Quebec in order to really ensure that hosts are compliant and that those that aren’t will be identified and fined,” said executive director of Fairbnb Canada Network Thorben Wieditz. “It’s really great to see that the compliance rate increased dramatically over just a span of a few months and that the province of Quebec is really cracking down on illegal operators and hosts that are trying to list their properties online without having a proper permit in place.”

According to the press release, the compliance rate is 90 per cent for offers posted simultaneously in January and February 2024 on the Airbnb and Vrbo platforms. Compared to the nearly 58 per cent rate estimate in August 2023.

The data was compiled by the ministry’s business strategies unit based on data collected from ‘AirDNA‘, a company dedicated to short-term rental data analysis.

Numbers show a decrease in the units available on Airbnb and Vrbo in the fall of 2023 compared to 2022.

CityNews spoke to some tourists visiting Montreal on Thursday and asked them about how they make decisions in regards to where to stay when travelling.
Many said they’ve had some good and some bad experiences at short-term rentals like Airbnb and have since switched back to going to hotels for the most part.

“They aren’t inspected and you arrive there and you could be arriving to something that isn’t really […] up to scratch,” said one of the tourists we spoke to.

Some admitted to never checking if safety measures or emergency equipment was included and conforming to safety regulations. However, now that they know about the fatal old Montreal fire, they’ll think twice before booking.

“People realize that these prices are not as cheap as they once were. We shouldn’t forget that hosts were able to offer very cheap prices in the past because they were not paying their fair share in terms of commercial property taxes, etc. I think we’re seeing a rebalance here,” said Wieditz.

“It takes away from renters in the area. Compliance is difficult,” said one tourist from New York. “It’s good that there’s a crackdown, but there does need to be different types of accommodation for different types of people.”

Minister Proulx says despite being happy with the results, she “remains determined to pursue her efforts to combat illegal accommodation.”

“We are in the housing crisis in Canada. We don’t have enough housing stock and governments stepping in to ensure that units that were planned, zoned, built, approved as residential, retain their residential status and not being used as ghost hotels,” said Wieditz.