Nearly 30,000 homes were offered on Airbnb last month in Quebec

Nearly 30,000 ads were listed on this famous platform in Quebec last month. Of the lot, 79% of the accommodation offered was not certified, as required by the Law on tourist accommodation.

These figures are taken from a report published on Tuesday (New window)the day Airbnb promised to disable non-compliant listings.

Carried out by the Regroupement des Comités Logement et Associations de Tenants du Québec (RCLALQ), this research shows that no region is spared from this phenomenon, since short-term rentals are offered on this platform in almost all the municipalities of the province (878 out of 1100).

It reveals that in February 2023, Airbnb offered exactly 29,482 accommodations for rent, of which 23,245 were not certified and therefore offered illegally.

A conservative portrait

These figures, however, probably underestimate the extent of the phenomenon, according to the authors of the report, the review having been carried out in low season with a single platform, while there are several others (VRBO, Marketplace, etc.).

The statistics available on the Inside Airbnb site also suggest that the report paints a conservative picture of the situation.

According to this monitoring site launched in 2016 by activist Murray Cox, no less than 14,289 Montreal housing units were offered on the platform as of March 16, while the Regroupement counted 9,190 on February 28.

Certification will not solve everything, warns the RCLALQ

The study unveiled on Monday is presented as a historic first Insofar as no governmental or non-governmental body, nor Airbnb itself, has ever published a count of the number of rentals offered on this platform throughout Quebec.

It is unveiled at a time when the Legault government has pledged to modify the law by the end of the current parliamentary session in order to oblige digital platforms to ensure that advertisers are indeed registered with the Corporation. of the tourism industry of Quebec (CITQ).

Nevertheless, the certification does [réglera] not all problemswarns the RCLALQsince, legal or not, the dwellings that will remain offered for short-term rental will continue to elude households that are victims of the crisis that is raging in the housing sector.

In Charlevoix, for example, 31.2% of the accommodations offered on Airbnb are owned by only five hosts and the vast majority of these units are certified, therefore legalunderlines the Regrouping.

The heart of the problem is not illegality, but the transformation of the rental stock for tourist purposesargued Cédric Dussault, co-spokesperson for the RCLALQduring a virtual press conference on Tuesday morning.

This phenomenon, he underlines, is particularly observable in certain municipalities where the proportion of rental housing offered for rent on the American platform reaches impressive thresholds, for example in Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges (22%), in Saint -Adolphe-d’Howard (17.4%) and Mont-Tremblant (13.7%).

« In most regions, if the units rented on Airbnb had not been lost to tourist accommodation, the vacancy rate would be at or above the equilibrium threshold. »

— A quote from Cédric Dussault, co-spokesperson for the RCLALQ

For all these reasons, the Regroupement is asking the Minister of Tourism, Caroline Proulx, toprohibit short-term rentals in any residence and digital rental platforms like Airbnb or, at the very least, to adoptother measures to limit the harmful effects of these platforms.

The RCLALQ offers for example the prohibition of commercial tourist use of the rental stock et the repeal of the article of the Civil Code of Quebec which allows the eviction of tenants for change of assignment.

The owners are also demanding changes

For the Quebec Landlords Association (APQ), however, it would be more relevant to question the reasons that have prompted many of its members to turn to short-term rentals in recent years.

Reacting in a press release to the study published on Monday, theAPQ once again denounced overly restrictive rent setting rules that do not stimulate investment and interest in residential rental.

The Association also recalled the many protections offered by Airbnb to its hosts (verification of the identity of travelers, protection against damage, liability insurance, 24-hour security assistance, etc.) –
protections that unfortunately no rental owner can obtainshe pointed out.

According to’APQlegislative changes are needed to finally give the signal to owners that the law supports them, hears them and will be there for them.

Register at the CITQ or rent your accommodation for more than a month

The debate over short-term rentals has been reignited in recent weeks after the fire that killed seven people in a heritage building in Old Montreal where most units were rented on a short-term basis, in contravention of Quebec law. and municipal regulations.

Pointed out for its inaction in this file, the Legault government announced in the following days an imminent modification of the Law on tourist accommodation.

Canadian Airbnb representatives also took part in a closed-door meeting last week with Minister Proulx, who informed them in person of her intentions.

However, they announced the next day that all non-compliant ads would be deactivated this week, specifying later that owners who did not wish to register with the CITQ could continue to use the platform to offer rentals of 31 days or more.