A Montreal man who was evicted from his Park Ave. apartment has created a Facebook page asking others to report illegal Airbnb listings in the city.
In December 2017, Tim Forster and other residents of his building were told that they would have to leave because the owners were renovating the space.
He said that the owners were frank with the tenants, admitting that they wanted to make the apartments more attractive to Airbnb renters.
Forster and some neighbours initially contested the evictions, but he ultimately decided that it was easier to just move out.
He said that he was paying slightly more than $500 a month for his Park Ave. apartment and that it is now listed for $75/night on Airbnb.
Forster’s event is called “Take 2 minutes to report an illegal AirBNB today!”
He’s hoping others join him in reporting the illegal units.
“I would like to see them push back against the landlords who are shamelessly doing that,” he said.
His concern isn’t with people who occasionally rent out their living spaces for a night or two, but rather those who buy apartments for the sole purpose of having them as short-term rentals.
“When you have whole buildings, I think that’s where [the government] really needs to crack down,” he said.
Plateau officials recently authorized workers to cut lock boxes on public property that store keys.
