Since Friday morning, activists have been occupying a building in the Hochelaga district to denounce the fact that it has been transformed into an “illegal” Airbnb, circumventing the rules for temporary tourist accommodation.
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“We rented the place on Airbnb. Now our rental is up, but we’re not leaving until the police get a warrant to remove us,” said Jimmy, one of the protesters occupying the apartment. He declined to give his last name.
Zoe Arcand
Around fifty people gathered at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Préfontaine streets in Hochelaga to support the occupation.
The protesters believe that this accommodation is not a primary residence occasionally rented as tourist accommodation, as permitted by law. According to them, it is a rental accommodation transformed “illegally into an Airbnb,” they claim.
One of the owners, Vadim Kuzmenko, has a permit to rent a primary residence for this address. This number is displayed on two different advertisements, which is illegal under the Tourist Accommodation Act of Quebec.
We would also not see any sign that the accommodation is a primary residence, such as family photos or personal property. Instead, there are tourism books about Montreal. Mr. Kuzmenko is also one of the operators of a second main residence in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism made public in March.
Photo: Zoé Arcand
The occupants say other people have booked this Airbnb accommodation and should arrive by the end of the day. “We will simply inform them that they cannot return. There are people in front of the door who will make sure of it,” explained Paula, who also occupies the accommodation.
Terrible neighbors
“We have lived here since it was transformed into tourist accommodation, we have witnessed the transformation,” says a neighbor opposite, who prefers to remain anonymous.
“They’re terrible neighbors. When we moved here, the corner was a crack house and across the street it became an Airbnb. Between the two types of parties, I prefer the ones at the crack house to the ones with tourists,” she says. “They’re loud, they’re not respectful. They act like they own the whole neighborhood.”
Zoe Arcand
Demands to the government
The handful of masked citizens occupying the apartment are demanding in particular that the Quebec government allow cities to “prohibit short-term rentals on their territory”. They also want municipalities to monitor the application of the Tourist Accommodation Actin addition to Revenu Québec, which currently has this responsibility.
In a festive atmosphere, the demonstrators also demanded that the owners and rental platforms of tourist accommodation pay fines for each night rented illegally. They even go so far as to demand the “confiscation of rental housing from owners who do not respect the law and that these be transformed into social housing, a cooperative or housing NPO or other similar types of housing”.
The demonstration has so far taken place in a festive and pacifist atmosphere. A music group performed at the scene to encourage the demonstrators and barbecued hot dogs were distributed.
Zoe Arcand
According to the spokesperson for the City of Montreal Police Department, Véronique Dubuc, the police are controlling the “peaceful demonstration” but “no fines have been given, there is no excess.”
Vadim Kuzmenko did not answer our calls.
