Montreal’s tighter restrictions on short-term rentals takes effect Thursday

The City of Montreal’s tightened rules on short-term rentals in residential neighbourhoods comes into effect Thursday.

The city adopted a bylaw in March to restrict short-term rentals to the summer months – June 10 to Sept. 10 – effectively banning services like Airbnb and Vrbo outside the peak tourism season.

The legislation came after housing rights groups accused short-term rental companies of taking units off the rental market amid the housing crisis in the city.

It was also a seen as a crackdown on illegal listings after a deadly fire in an Old Montreal building in March 2023, which had several illegal listings – brought the issue to the forefront. Seven people died in that fire.

“It was needed to be done,” said Catherine Lussier, coordinator at the housing rights organization, Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), welcoming the new rules, “That will probably prevent some apartments to going directly to [such rental platforms] and return some units to the market.”

“We think it’s a good move and hope that it will inspire the Quebec government to do the same,” Lussier said.

According to the new rules, city inspectors can issue a fine of $1,000 a day for illegal listings for the first offence and $2,000 a day for a repeat offence.

For renting in the summer months, people can rent their primary residence in the summer after obtaining a permit for $300 and registering with the province’s Corporation de l’industrie touristique du Québec (CITQ). The city already bans renting secondary residences outside of certain areas.

Lussier said the outright bans on short-term rentals outside the tourist season will likely help reduce the burden on inspectors compared to the old rules which required them to validate registrations and verify if the listings are on primary residences.

“The question is whether [inspectors] will have the resources to do their job, to give tickets,” said Lussier.

Back in March, Airbnb had criticized the regulation, claiming it would hurt Montreal’s tourism industry. Alex Howell, policy lead for Canada at Airbnb, said the city was “jeopardizing more than $400 million in economic activity and more than 4,400 jobs,” including in industries that depend on tourism, such as retail and food services.