Airbnb is scheduled to remove all non-compliant housing listings on its Quebec platform on Tuesday, meaning thousands of housing units. Some apartments that we see on common rental platforms like Marketplace or Kijiji already seem to come directly from this type of site.
Data from Inside Airbnb, a website that collects and publishes data from the rental platform, recently showed that 92.5% of the nearly 14,000 listings found in Montreal were irregular because they did not include a Quebec Tourism Industry Corporation (CITQ) registration number. In Quebec City, 76.6% of ads did not have a registration number.
We can therefore assume that a large number of accommodations will be removed from the platform at very short notice. Will these alleviate the housing shortage raging in the province?
At the moment, we’re definitely seeing properties on apartment rental sites that conflict with the ads we typically see there, which may or may not be from Airbnb.
For example, a furnished 4 ½ apartment in the city center contains… one bedroom with two double beds. It is fully furnished, decorated and even appears to contain crockery. It is available for rent for $2900 per month.
Screenshot Kijiji
Another apartment, a 5.5 furnished apartment in Rosemont, is listed for rent for no less than $2,800 on a one-month lease, renewable. In the ad, the landlord mentions that a deposit (deposit) equal to one month’s rent must be paid, which is illegal.
Screenshot Kijiji
A $2,900 5.5 furnished apartment near the Rosemont subway station not only comes with the furniture, it also comes with “shampoo.” [sic]shower gel, conditioner [sic] and all the little extras. The year-long lease is reportedly “closed and non-renewable,” while a landlord can normally only repossess a unit for a few reasons specified by law.
Screenshot Kijiji
• Also read: Tourists, neuroscientists, photographers: who are the victims of the terrible fire in Old Montreal?