The new rules have received pushback from the Quebec’s tourism department, as well as from platforms such as Airbnb, which claim that they will hurt the city’s economy.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Montreal is forging ahead with new rules banning many short-term rentals for nine months a year, hoping to alleviate a housing crunch and strike a blow in a lengthy battle against unauthorized listings.
City council in March passed a new bylaw that will allow people to rent their principal residences for periods of 31 days or less only during peak tourist season, between June 10 and Sept. 10. They must also obtain a $300 permit from the city and meet previous requirements to register with the province.
Full-time Airbnb units run by commercial enterprises are still allowed in parts of the city, but are restricted to a few streets and areas.
Two years after fatal fire, Montreal tightens rules on short-term rentals including Airbnb
Despina Sourias, a city councillor in charge of housing, said previous rules were hard to enforce because they allowed some property owners to avoid getting fined by stating a rental property was their main residence.
The new rules, she said, will shift the burden of proof onto listing owners instead of inspectors.
“Before it was like, we have to go out and catch people, we’ve got to roam the streets,” she said in a phone interview.
Banning short-term rentals in principal residences for nine months a year makes issuing fines much easier, Sourias said. “You don’t have your permit, you get a ticket,” she said. “If you’re doing it outside the time that you’re allowed to do it, you get a ticket.”
The new rules are the next step in a progressive crackdown across the province that began after seven people died in a fire in an Old Montreal building in March 2023. Six of the victims had been staying in Airbnb rentals, which the mayor confirmed were not allowed in that part of the city.
After the fire, the provincial government tabled new legislation requiring platforms like Airbnb to only display ads that include a tourism licence number and expiry date. The city also hired a squad of inspectors to try to crack down.
Before the new bylaw, it was easier for people to rent their main residences for short periods, such as during a vacation.
That led some people to use different schemes to falsely declare a full-time rental as a principal residence, and forcing inspectors into lengthy investigations to prove otherwise, the city said.
Prior to the new bylaw, it was easier for people to rent their main residences for short periods, such as during a vacation.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
Montreal’s mayor said in January that despite the provincial law, more than half of the 4,000 units on short-term rental platforms did not comply with the rules.
The new rules have received pushback from the province’s tourism department, as well as from platforms such as Airbnb, who claim that they will hurt the city’s economy and do little to improve housing affordability.
Alex Howell, Airbnb’s policy lead from Canada, called on the city to reverse what she called an “extreme and short-sighted” rule change.
“This poorly thought-out decision will drive up hotel prices and make travel more expensive for Quebecers – nearly 140,000 of whom stayed in an Airbnb in Montreal last year – and weakens Montreal’s ability to attract visitors for major events that fuel tourism throughout the year,” she said in a statement.
The province’s tourism department said the new rules would not put an end illegal rentals or the housing crisis.
“On the contrary, they could even worsen the situation by pushing more operators into illegality, returning Montreal to the Wild Web of before our reforms,” it said in a statement to The Canadian Press.
But David Wachsmuth, the Canada Research Chair in urban governance at McGill University, believes Montreal may succeed where other cities have failed at cracking down on illegal rentals.
He said platforms leave it up to cities to track down rule-breakers, which forces municipal officials to “play detective” and figure out who’s actually a principal resident and who isn’t.
He said enforcement will be easier under these rules, because anyone running an Airbnb outside the designated full-time rental areas can be automatically fined outside the summer season.
