Airbnb hosts in Montreal ordered to pay more than $ 50,000 to condominium association

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Tenants in a condo complex in downtown Montreal have been ordered to pay more than $ 50,000 after a secret investigation found they were renting units on Airbnb against building regulations.

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After several attempts to curb the problem, the building management hired private investigators last June to infiltrate and rent the homes online, proving that tenants were using the short-term rental service.

The complex’s co-owners’ union then used the evidence gathered to seek court orders to force tenants to stop renting units online and pay damages for other residents of the building.

“It was a necessary step and I think the judgment lets people know what to expect if they continue to lease their units,” said Serge Labelle of MC Finance, the company that manages the union. “It is a clear and precise message that this kind of situation is not allowed and will not be tolerated.”

The condo complex in question, the Roccabella towers on René-Lévesque Boulevard, prohibits short-term rental by its declaration of co-owners and its construction rules. These are tenants who had signed long-term leases with landlords who then rented the units on Airbnb.

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In his judgment, the judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, Christian J. Brossard, wrote that the tenants knew that by renting the condos on Airbnb “they probably seriously infringed the rights (of the other residents) and the free enjoyment. and peaceful of their property ”.

The judge ordered a tenant and landlord to pay the union a total of $ 37,000 and another tenant to pay $ 16,000. Brossard also ordered them to stop renting units on any short-term rental website. Two of them have appealed the judgment, but their appeal was dismissed last week.

Management acted on the situation after repeated complaints about noise, people not knowing how to use the facilities and litter left in the hallways, among others.

One of the tenants, using the name “Mtl Luxury” on Airbnb, had advertised his accommodation on the platform as giving access to the building’s communal pool, jacuzzi and gym.

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The court’s demands argued that the tenants had acted “in a clandestine and fraudulent manner” and “had devised a scheme to avoid being exposed”.

To go unnoticed, documents say they asked someone else to hand over the keys to the tenants, did not put the real address on Airbnb, made people meet nearby rather than at the resort himself and asked them to leave the keys inside the unit so as not to arouse suspicion at reception.

The ensuing investigation caught the tenants in the act. While an undercover GardaWorld investigator retrieved the keys to a unit after renting it on Airbnb – for the price of $ 900 for two nights – another investigator videotaped the transaction from his car.

The court order requests argued that short-term rentals had “evolved to the detriment” of all Montrealers.

“Originally, online short-term rental platforms wanted to be an innovative concept in the sharing economy,” the requests said. “Several years later… the foundation of the sharing economy has given way to a thirst for enrichment made insatiable by rental income that is as astronomical as it is spontaneous.

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