The enacted Law No. 67 on Community Housing allows this type of activity in all municipalities.
The existing urban planning regulations, which prohibit renting out the main residence, become obsolete.
However, the municipalities can regulate the offer of accommodation facilities in a main residence after a referendum procedure.
In Rouyn-Noranda, renting out your home was already allowed after a building code regulation was passed in 2016, and the city has no intention of changing the regulations, confirms the commune’s communications department.
Nor do the municipalities of Val-d’Or and Amos intend to limit these activities to specific sectors.
However, the town of Témiscaming intends to regulate this type of accommodation in the coming months with a new zoning statute.
Pierre Gingras Mayor of Temiscaming
Photo: Radio Canada / Mathieu Ouellette
Mayor Pierre Gingras reminds that the municipal council has to go back to the drawing board as a first draft of the statute has not yet been finalized.
Of course, the rest of us said to ourselves at the beginning, we don’t have an apartment in Témiscaming, so maybe we said to ourselves that it would be a good thing to see this as it should be, to avoid the apartment ending up with nobody inside, then just to serve Airbnb. We thought about it, we understood the rules. We had further discussions, questions and now we are ready to work to make it acceptable for everyone, adds the mayor.
Only three main residence rental permits have been issued by the government in Témiscamingue.
The fact is that the owners must have a permit for such an activity, explains Daniel Dufault, urban planner at the MRC of Témiscamingue.
Every municipality has to ask itself a little bit, what is my interest in regulation? Is it because the accommodation establishments cause nuisance with parties or parking on the street, or an additional volume of garbage? If they don’t want to regulate, is it because there is a lack of conventional tourist offers such as hotels, inns, does the municipality want to promote a variety of tourist accommodation on its territory?, indicates the person in charge.
“Does the municipality want to intervene in the private market or not? These are the questions that municipalities will ask themselves to find out whether we regulate or not. »
— A quote from Daniel Dufault
For second homes and chalets there are 32 permits issued by the Ministry of Tourism.
Recall that the Government’s Bill 67 caused an outcry in local communities when it was introduced by Local Affairs Minister Andrée Laforest.