Achi news desk-
Neighbors say the building on Bannantyne Avenue near Hickson Street in Montreal’s Verdun district is known as the infamous Airbnb.
“Usually there are parties every weekend,” said Pierre S. Portia.
Those who live close to the place are fed up, they say that the parties last until late at night and sometimes until the early hours of the morning.
“My girlfriend, when she walks the dog in the morning, it’s like around 6:00 in the morning, and parties, they keep going,” Fortier said.
In Montreal, short-term rentals available for less than 31 days must be approved by the city.
In an email to CTV News, the Borough of Varden said the address had no such permit and that following several inspections, the Borough sent owner Karim Kamal a $2,500 fine.
Kamal’s assistant told CTV News he would not be doing interviews.
The borough also advised Revenue Quebec, which has the authority to hand out higher fines.
“Revenue Québec diligently handles all complaints and reports received,” spokesman Claude Olivier Pagnant said in an email. “Kamal Capital Ltd. and its manager Karim Olivier Kamal have already received five misdemeanor statements relating to short-term tourist accommodation. A hearing in one of these cases was scheduled for June 10.”
Tourist accommodation data is published quarterly on the Revenue Quebec website.
Pagnant said the agency conducted 528 inspections in Montreal and issued 428 violation notices.
In all, 279 convictions were handed down and fines totaling $1,192,425 were imposed, he added.
Accommodation data for tourists is published quarterly on our website. These data are broken down by region and show that in the first three quarters of the 2023-2024 fiscal year (April 1 to December 31, 2023), Revenu Québec conducted 528 inspections in the Montreal region alone. During this period, 428 statements of offense were issued, 279 convictions were given, and a total of $1,192,425 in fines were imposed on offenders.
Housing advocates say illegal short-term rentals continue to be a problem months after legislation was passed to address the problem.
RCLALQ (Regroupement des comites logement et associations de locataires du Quebec) spokesperson Cédric Dusseau said there are loopholes in the law and that’s why there are still so many Airbnbs across Quebec.
“Now we reach more than 31,000 in the province of Quebec,” he said. “And we know that the vast majority of them are still illegal.”
The city of Montreal has a group to deal with illegal listings, but said it needs more cooperation from the province.
“We have inspectors, we apply pressure and want to apply more pressure,” said city council member Robert Beaudry.
Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx said everything is in place so everyone “can play their part.”
“The increase in registration rates and the fines imposed to date ($3.9 million) prove this,” Proulx said.
Verdun’s infamous Airbnb listing has been removed, but supporters say that’s a drop in the bucket.
Airbnb said it is following Quebec’s system and has long advocated for “a system that will better allow us to verify host-submitted information against government data,” spokesman Matt McNamara said.
Regarding the Worden listing, McNamara said Airbnb has received no complaints from neighbors about the address.
“Our Community Disruption Policy prohibits disruptive and unauthorized parties on Airbnb listings as well as so-called ‘party houses,'” he said. “There are consequences for those who try to break these rules, from account suspension to removal from the platform.”
