Neighbors say the building on Bannantyne Avenue, near Hickson Street in Montreal’s Verdun district, is known as the infamous Airbnb.
“Normally there are parties every weekend,” says Pierre S. Fortier.
Those who live near the site are fed up and say the parties last late into the night and sometimes into the early hours of the morning.
“My girlfriend, when she walks the dog in the morning, it’s like 6:00 in the morning, and the parties are going on,” Fortier said.
In Montreal, short-term rentals available for less than 31 days must have a certificate from the city.
In an email to CTV News, the municipality of Verdun said the address did not have such a certificate and that, after several inspections, the municipality sent owner Karim Kamal a fine of $2,500.
Kamal’s assistant told CTV News he would not give interviews.
The municipality also informed Revenue Quebec, which has the power to impose higher fines.
“Revenue Québec diligently deals with all complaints and allegations received,” spokesperson Claude-Olivier Fagnant said in an email. “Kamal Capital Inc. and its director Karim Olivier Kamal have already received five accusations of crimes related to short-term tourist accommodation. The hearing in one of these cases is scheduled for June 10.”
Data on tourist accommodation is published quarterly on the Revenue Quebec website.
Fagnant said the agency conducted 528 inspections in Montreal and issued 428 crime statements.
In total, 279 convictions were handed down and fines of $1,192,425 were imposed, he added.
Tourist accommodation data is published quarterly on our website. This data, broken down by region, shows that during the first three quarters of fiscal year 2023-2024 (April 1 to December 31, 2023), Revenu Québec carried out 528 inspections in the Montreal region alone. During this period, 428 statements of offense were issued, 279 convictions were handed down, and offenders were fined a total of $1,192,425.
Housing advocates say illegal short-term rentals remain a problem months after legislation was adopted to address the problem.
RCLALQ (Regroupement des comites logement et Associations de locataires du Quebec) spokesperson Cedric Dussault said there are loopholes in the law and that’s why there are still so many Airbnbs across Quebec.
“Now we are more than 31,000 in the province of Quebec,” he said. “And we know that still a large majority of them are also illegal.”
The city of Montreal has a team to combat illegal listings, but said it needs more collaboration from the province.
“We have inspectors, we put pressure and we want to put more pressure,” said Councilman Robert Beaudry.
Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx stated that everything is in place so that everyone “can play their part.”
“The increase in registration fees and fines imposed to date ($3.9 million) demonstrate this,” Proulx said.
Verdun’s infamous so-called Airbnb listing has been removed, but its defenders say it’s a drop in the ocean.
Airbnb said it follows Quebec’s system and has long advocated for “a system that allows us to better verify information submitted by the host against government data,” said spokesperson Matt McNama.
Regarding the accommodation in Verdun, McNama said Airbnb did not receive any complaints from neighbors about the address.
“Our community disturbance policy prohibits disruptive and unauthorized parties on Airbnb listings as well as so-called ‘party houses,'” it said. “There are consequences for those who attempt to violate these rules, from account suspension to removal from the platform.”