An illegal Airbnb in Petite-Patrie
Radio-Canada reports on a blatantly illegal Airbnb building in Petite‑Patrie, and the disturbances it brings to quiet Alma Street. And yet the city and borough seem powerless to act.
Wednesday, Metro has a piece on the toothlessness of government to enforce its own laws. Or is it that, in their hearts, they side with the property‑owning class and admire anyone who amasses profit?
harold 06:58 on 2022-05-11 Permalink
6295 Alma & Google Maps lists a business there under the name “Jean-Pierre Aumont” w/ 1 4 star review.
Ephraim 10:59 on 2022-05-11 Permalink
For one, send him a commercial bill for the building and see how that goes down. That’s 4X the tax rate.
Joey 11:09 on 2022-05-11 Permalink
I wonder how powerless the borough mayor would find himself if he happened to be living next door…
Robert H 15:22 on 2022-05-11 Permalink
Good question, Joey. Do you think there could be an Airbnb in Legault’s new condominium building too?
«Nous, pour aller en cour, ça prend une preuve directe, a poursuivi le maire. On ne peut pas avoir une preuve indirecte, c’est-à-dire qu’un inspecteur ne peut pas aller sur Airbnb, puis prendre un screenshot de la page puis aller en cour avec ça. Ce n’est pas considéré comme suffisant.»
Why the hell not? What’s “direct?” Is it or isn’t it illegal? This is just a festival of buck-passing indifference among Revenue Quebec, the CITQ, and Ville de Montreal. Considering that existing laws seem adequate, I have to agree with Kate that there is a lack of political will to enforce them. You can bet that Airbnb knows this. Meanwhile, the citizen-complainant is left to his or her own devices. Apparently, we need a local Murray Cox with infinite time and resources. Will it take a lawsuit to dislodge the legal logjam here?
Joey 16:30 on 2022-05-11 Permalink
Robert H, I don’t know why the city doesn’t just have an employee or councillor book a stay. Wouldn’t that be a “preuve directe”? The City is way too timid and cautious on this file. They should be testing the resolve of flagrant rule-breakers, not whining about how they can’t do anything.
Ephraim 21:51 on 2022-05-11 Permalink
The dossier is CLEARLY in RQ’s hands… they just don’t do anything about it, because no one is auditing them. The CITQ knew how to find them. The tools are there. And all RQ has to do is find a few and then audit their taxes and put down the fines. The fines are supposed to be PER DAY. You just need to make an example of a few people and miracles of miracles, AirBnB will do something to have their name out of the newspaper with the words “TAX EVASION”. And seriously, RQ can just offer up a reward of half the fine amount for anyone presenting them with an illegal reservation. That will turn AirBnB’s reservation system into a hunt for tax evasion. Can you imagine how many people would help when the return is $750 per day plus 10% of the total tax evasion amount and fines?
Ian 22:41 on 2022-05-11 Permalink
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, someone is getting paid off huge. AirBnb is very well known as a powerful lobby internationally, with very deep pockets precisely for shutting down this kind of talk.