Anyone else interested in an airbnb support group for hosts in Montreal and Quebec in general

Answered!
Kerry70
Level 2
Venise-en-Québec, Canada

Anyone else interested in an airbnb support group for hosts in Montreal and Quebec in general

I am a host for an airbnb in Venise-en-Quebec and I am dealing with the new law from the Quebec Ministry of Tourism

requiring me to have an inspection, become classified, and pay an annual fee.  I also need permission from my municipality and am waiting to hear back from them.  I had to cancel all the bookings I had and can't have any more until I conform.  I'm wondeering if I may have to lobby my municipality.  I'm wondering if there are others out there in the same boat and if we could work together to support each other.   

1 Best Answer
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Really cool thread! I wonder if @Aleksandar52 et al may find the Get Local option useful in finding local meet ups or organising one?

 

Thanks

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13 Replies 13
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Kerry70,

 

Lovely to meet you. It is great you wish to meet other hosts in your area. 

 

I just thought, you might like to post this in the French speaking Community Center as you might find more some hosts from Quebec who would also be interested in this. 🙂

 

Best of luck with this. 

 

Lizzie

 

 


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Hello Kerry,

We've already got a permission for our appartment in Longueuil recently. Please keep us updated about your situation.

Marat,

 

I just got a letter from Ville de Gatineau that they declined my permission request. I have 10 days to send them my observations. Is there anything I can do to get my permission in your point of view?

 

The letter said the municipality has informed that the planned use of my establishment is not in conformity with the urban planning by-laws relating to the uses.

 

When I opened the request, I selected the cateogry of "tourist home". Maybe I should select something different?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

Mariana241
Level 1
Montreal, Canada

Hello guys,

I recently started to rent rooms in my house and I have no clue on what to do with the permits and all those things.

My friend said she didn't get any permit whatsoever and she's still renting her house to help her pay for her rent; I was wondering if she could get in any sort of trouble with the law for doing that.

 

thanks for your help!

Hi Mariana,

I'm a new host and haven't yet registered with the province or municipality. I saw a CBC news item from last year saying that less then 5% of AirBnB are registered in Quebec. So I'm in the same boat, wondering if I should bother with the added expense, time, and complication of requirements that most people are ignoring!

 

Would appreciate hearing about your progress and opinions from others on this chat site!

 

Thanks very much,

Peter

Rene-and-Zac0
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@Kerry70 I’m in for drinks on St Catherine street! Love that Town. Go Habs!

Scott373
Level 1
Montreal, Canada

Hi, I think a Facebook group for Quebec Airbnb hosts would be an excellent idea. This type of support exists in other regions/cities, and with the restrictive and incredibly vague nature of the laws here, I think it is important to have a group that is ready to stand up and fight our corner. I have just been forced to sell my condo on the Plateau in Montreal because my neighbours banded together to restrict rentals to one year or more, meaning that 364 days is considered 'short-term'. I am now trying to buy a property in Ville-Marie borough (Village) and have tried to conform to the rules of both Tourism Quebec and Ville-Marie, but doing so would mean that any property I purchase will not be allowed to do short-term rentals legally. I do not wish to rent my residence all year, only during periods when I am not in town (I work out-of-province often during summer), but I would need the same 'résidence touristique' classification that owners who rent out a secondary residence, all year would need. Add to this the fact that you need 150m between such residences, and that the borough just decided to only approve new applications along Sainte-Catherine St, and you see that you have about zero chance of being approved for the permit in Ville-Marie borough from now on. Tourism Quebec has no actual definition for what is regular short-term rental, and what is irregular. I have been told by someone at the office that once or twice is fine, but anything more becomes 'regular' and therefore requires a permit... But the city is not accepting new applications, so the $300 fee to apply would be pointless. The laws are very, very grey, and there is no coordination between Tourism Quebec and the various boroughs. Even if you try to do this legally (at least in inner-city Montreal neighbourhoods), you will constantly run into dead ends, and told, 'no'. It is no wonder that 95% of hosts do not have this attestation from Tourism Quebec, as the various levels of government have made it impossible to do this any way other than illegally.

Maybe a group of hosts who WANT to do the right thing could effect some change in the law so that at least it is clear and makes some sort of sense. Toronto recently imposed a law where you can ONLY Airbnb your primary residence, and for a maximum of 180 days a year. This is sensible and it is clear. Hopefully Quebec will follow the same path soon.

Hi Scott,

Great post and very helpful information! Thanks a lot for taking the time to summarize all the info!

To add to your point above and share my situation: our place is in the Montreal South Shore area. Before we started hosting, we wrote to the municipality to inquire if we needed anything and they said they have no regulation or permit requirements regarding AirBNBs. After this, we went to the CITQ and got a registration. They had a 45 period for the municipality to object. After no objections from the municipality within that period, they allowed us a registration.

Problem is the neighbors on one side are extremely unhappy that we are making money 😉 and are doing everything in their power to make us stop renting our house. My guess is they made a complaint with the municipality and now after we have a valid CITQ registration the municipality is backing out saying we do not have the right to do that activity.

It is a real conundrum - on one end we have a permission and we were charged for both certification and insurance and now we are being told we have to close up shop 😞

I really am trying to do everything by all rules and regulations, but not sure where to go from here... 😞

I have a consultation with a legal adviser. Will keep you guys posted on results. If anyone has had a similar issue or has an idea what I could do I would really appreciate any advice

Thanks again and all the best of luck to you all!

Best,

Dessi

 

Hi Guys,

 

We're in s similar boat. My husband and I own a cottage in Val Des Monts and our municipality is giving us a hard time with our "zoning". They told us we're not allowed to be a tourist accommodation according to our zoning. We requested to submit a "rezoning" application and they were hesitant to even allow us to go that route. It's like a dead end no matter how hard we try to get citq certification. We purchased our cottage with the intention to rent it out part time to make it more affordable. It's so frustrating as we're trying so hard to get the certification be be "legal" accommodation but it seems like the municipality and citq don't want to give it to us. We finally got them allow us to submit our rezoning application which costs $1200 and they said it would take up to a year to get approval and we may not get our full money back if its declined. When we asked what requirements we need or what their rezoning approval is based on, we got radio silence from the municipality. The whole thing seems so unfair and honestly I'm wondering if I need to get legal advice at this point. We really don't want this to become such a financial burden that we need to sell our beloved property. Anyone in Val des monts or nearby have a similar experience?? I will pay whatever fees they want me to pay but I just need confirmation that this process will eventually lead us to CITQ certification. 

HI there - curious. Did you ever get any resolution to this issue with the municipality? 

Phaedra5
Level 1
Ottawa, Canada

Hi there, i am considering this as an option for my home, what are the yearly fees? I did a brief search but only came up with a $250 fee?

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Really cool thread! I wonder if @Aleksandar52 et al may find the Get Local option useful in finding local meet ups or organising one?

 

Thanks

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines 

Zee164
Level 1
Quebec City, Canada

Hi,

I am in Québec city and after almost a few month of running airbnb now the city tells me my area is not allowed for short term rental aka airbnb. I really like the idea of having a Facebook group I think we need to do something about these irrational laws that impact the return on our investment. I am wondering if there is a way to either sue or have a law suit against such restrictive laws. I bought a triplex just 9 month ago and at that time i searched a lot to find out if there is such restriction that prevents me from having airbnb and couldn't find anything and now that i have made my investment city is just telling me that i cannot run airbnb in the units that i am not living in but i can have airbnb in the unit that I am resident. It is a triplex how come i cannot have airbnb in the Second floor but can rent a bedroom in the main floor of the same 3plex where I live. It just has no logic. This government does not have the interest of people in mind.

The horrible fire in Montreal was also city fault not airbnb. How come they allow those units without windows being considered residential to begin with.

Please let's do something no where in the world a government would tell you who you can rent your place to