New squad to clamp down on illegal Airbnbs in 3 Montreal boroughs

There's a new squad cracking down on illegal Airbnbs in Montreal, four months after a deadly fire stirred nationwide discussion about short-term rentals and their lack of oversight.

The four-person squad will target the Plateau-Mont-Royal, Ville-Marie and Sud-Ouest boroughs, where most short-term rental listings are located, despite being illegal in many neighbourhoods.

Under the pilot project, inspectors are authorized to assess dwellings without notice and hand out fines, "the amount of which will increase with any repeat offences," according to a press release from the city on Thursday. 

"In Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, we were among the first to regulate tourist residences. Given the scale of the phenomenon, all we needed was the means to ensure that our regulations were respected," reads a quote from the borough's mayor, Luc Rabouin.

Many short-term rentals in Montreal -- commonly hosted through the Airbnb platform -- operate without permits and in restricted zones.

This reality was brought to light in March 2023 after a fire tore through an apartment building in Old Montreal, killing seven people, most of whom were staying in illegal Airbnb units.

Reports later revealed the building had been flagged by safety inspectors because its fire alarms were too quiet, and a lawsuit claimed that at least one unit was windowless.

The tragedy prompted Quebec to crack down on its rule requiring the inclusion of permit numbers. But many hosts appeared to bend these rules, using the same number on different listings and including suspicious digits like "123456."

• LISTEN on CJAD 800 Radio: ‘It should be illegal’: A housing advocate weighs in on the number of short-term rentals on Airbnb

In June, the Quebec government passed a law imposing up to $50,000 fines for hosts who use "false or inaccurate" registration numbers.

The legislation also imposes penalties of up to $100,000 for "operators of the digital accommodation platforms" who don't comply with the province's obligations. Additional provisions of the law come into effect on Sept. 1. 

As for Montreal's new squad, inspectors can issue fines between $1,000 to $2,000 for individual offenders and $2,000 and $4,000 for corporations.  

The hope is that the project will also help ease the housing shortage by bringing illegal units back onto the mainstream market.

"In the context of the current housing crisis, the deployment of this new squad is one more tool that will enable the City of Montreal to put units back on the rental market for the benefit of Montrealers, who are currently stuck with historically low vacancy rates," said Sud-Ouest mayor Benoit Dorais.

"We're going to do everything we can to make this pilot project a success, so that it can be extended to other boroughs because problems of cleanliness, noise and safety, which are often caused by the illegal operation of tourist residences, are experienced everywhere in Montreal."