Municipalities checking in on Airbnb

When you think of booking an Airbnb, you think London, Rome or Paris or, closer to home, Old Montreal. Pierrefonds-Roxboro would probably not top your list of tourist destinations. Yet at least one Airbnb in the borough had neighbours complaining to the mayor.

Mayor Jim Beis and council are poised to adopt a bylaw this month that will amend the definition of short-term tourist rentals and restrict their location.

“We’re not downtown. It’s not what you would consider a touristy area,” Beis said.

“So what is their motivation for coming here?”

A quick internet check shows that there are Airbnbs operating in many West Island municipalities, prompting mayors and their councils throughout the region to study bylaws already in place to see if amendments are necessary.

An Airbnb is not one thing. It can be one room with an ensuite bathroom; a basement suite or a fully furnished, multi-bedroom house with an in-ground pool.

In the case of Pierrefonds-Roxboro, it was a house that had allegedly been turned into a party palace. Neighbours complained that bunk beds had been set up for maximum occupancy and that the weekends were dominated by loud and long, alcohol-fuelled parties.

“Renting a room to a student. I get that,” Beis said. “But adding bunk beds? Speeding along the street. Noise inside and outside. Do we really want this type of activity here?”

The bylaw amendment will corral tourist rentals into a small zone in the western portion of the borough near Cap St-Jacques where there is kite surfing in the clement months and snowshoeing in the winter.

Baie-D’Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino said the town has had one complaint about a home that allegedly was being rented as an Airbnb. It was the first time Tutino had heard about Airbnbs operating in the area.

She said a close reading of the town’s zoning bylaw relating to “rentals of private dwellings” deems the practice permissible, but that council has already started the bylaw amendment procedure.

“The objective of the amendment is to prohibit the short-term rental (not exceeding 31 days) of single-family rooms and private dwellings — namely an accommodation unit that is rented for a fee on a regular basis and whose availability is made public,” Tutino said.

If all goes as planned, the amendment should be adopted at the November council meeting.

Pointe-Claire spokesperson Marie-Pier Paquette-Séguin said the city has not received complaints about Airbnbs.