Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx is preparing an amendment to the Accommodations Act, in particular to include the possibility of distributing fines to accommodation rental platforms. But she says it’s up to cities to target Airbnbs in no-go areas, not the Quebec government.
Posted at 4:43pm
“Outside the limits where the short-term accommodation of tourists is authorized by the municipalities, it is their responsibility to investigate, it is up to them to denounce the illegality of this type of accommodation there,” reiterated Minister Proulx during a press conference on Monday Afternoon in front of the ruins of the building in Old Montreal where a fierce fire killed at least seven people last Thursday.
Several of the missing persons had rented accommodations in this building through Airbnb, even though city regulations prohibit this type of accommodation throughout Old Montreal.
Earlier, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante called for Quebec to increase the number of Revenu Quebec inspectors dedicated to enforcing the Tourist Accommodations Act, believing their job is to target illegal Airbnbs.
But Ms Proulx disagreed: Revenu Québec inspectors only inspect accommodations that are properly registered with the Corporation de l’industrie touristique du Québec (CITQ) and not homes offering illegal tourist accommodation, she explained.
If they’re illegal, we don’t know they exist.
Caroline Proulx, Secretary of Tourism
She added that she believes there are enough inspectors to oversee the application of the law.
The minister announced that she would meet Mayor Plante to find a solution “so that this type of incident does not happen again”.
Among other legislative changes, Caroline Proulx pointed out that the photo of the certificate of registration with the CITQ must be published on every advertisement for tourist accommodation.
The law already requires landlords of tourist accommodation to publish their CITQ number, but the vast majority of listings found on Airbnb do not meet this requirement and are located outside of areas where municipal zoning allows “tourist residence” operations.
Minister Proulx declined to say whether she intends to require Airbnb to only publish listings for apartments with a CITQ registration number, as requested by Mayor Plante.