Île-Bizard residents shocked by hefty fines for trying to rent out homes during Presidents Cup

Patricia McIntyre was getting acceptable to ringing successful the caller twelvemonth with household and friends astatine her location in Île-Bizard erstwhile determination was a sound astatine the door. 

To her surprise, she was greeted by a bailiff who handed her a brace of envelopes. Inside determination was a stack of papers from Revenue Québec explaining successful item however she had violated the province's short-term rental rules and that she and her hubby were present facing fines of $3,750 each. 

"To me, this is precise predatory and the authorities is acting successful atrocious faith," McIntyre says. 

McIntyre ne'er really rented retired her home, but successful the lead-up to the Presidents Cup, hosted astatine Royal Montreal Golf Club past September, she decided to station it online with a short-term rental website that was recommended by the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA). With ample crowds expected and streets closed to traffic, she thought it would beryllium a bully opportunity. 

She didn't person a tourism registration number, oregon CITQ, and says the site, Rent Like A Champion, ne'er gave her immoderate denotation that she mightiness beryllium breaking section laws. But she knew that if she rented, determination would beryllium taxes to pay. 

"If we would person [rented], yeah, I'd telephone the authorities and find retired what the protocol is, however bash we proceed," she said.

"But conscionable for simply putting your location connected a website, to maine it's shocking that they tin get you for this."

Multiple homeowners who posted but didn't rent targeted

McIntyre has since learned that she is not unsocial successful her frustration. She says she knows of astatine slightest 9 different homeowners successful the country who were targeted by Revenue Québec investigators during the lead-up to the Presidents Cup. None look to person successfully recovered idiosyncratic to rent their house.  

Aisha Lasarni paid $250 US to station her location connected Accommodation For The Event — a tract based retired of Ireland that caters to play fans looking to enactment adjacent to play tourney venues. 

She was served papers this week and was stunned to spot that the state was coming aft her and her hubby for a full of $7,500. Lasari says she lone posted her location due to the fact that she was hoping to permission municipality during the tourney to debar the crowds and traffic. 

She besides says she didn't cognize she was violating provincial rules. 

"I mean we're not utilized to renting houses here," Lasari says. "We're not downtown wherever we person condos wherever there's the Jazz Festival, wherever we rent retired our houses, wherever we're infringing connected the lodging market," she said. 

Like McIntyre, Lasarni's location was not rented. 

"It's not a slap connected the wrist of $500 [that says], 'hey, you should person known that you request a permit.' I mean for a store merchantability you request a licence but you don't request a licence if you're reasoning of having a store sale." 

Revenue Québec accused of acting successful atrocious faith

The lawsuit files that Lasari and McIntyre received outlining their offences are dozens of pages long. There are photos of the listings, their location from aggregate angles and pages of notes taken by Revenue Québec investigators.

"It's not right. It's unjust. I mean however tin you bash this to people? I'm definite they spent thousands of dollars creating these files against us," McIntyre says. 

In Lasari's case, determination is besides a photograph of a substance connection showing someone, perchance a Revenue Québec investigator, inquiring astir the availability of their home. 

"To beryllium honest, it felt similar it was a spot of an invasion, immoderate benignant of an entrapment. Like they went done specified an effort to analyse our small island, a small land that is not utilized to seeing immoderate tourists," Lasarni said. 

The brace says they recognize that short-term rentals are creating issues successful immoderate parts of Montreal but reason that homeowners successful Île-Bizard are not who the authorities should beryllium focusing its resources on. 

Revenue Québec spokesperson Mylène Gagnon says fines for violating the Tourist Accommodation Act scope from $500 to $50,000 for individuals and that the rules are listed connected the government's website. Any nonaccomplishment to show a registration fig connected a listing, adjacent if the lodging is not rented, is taxable to fines ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. 

Lasarni says she understands that being unaware of a instrumentality is not a valid excuse for violating it, but she argues that since Île-Bizard is not an country that typically has galore visitors, that the bureau could person acted with much empathy and astatine slightest tried to pass residents that they needed a CITQ fig alternatively of silently gathering a lawsuit against them.

"What happened to caring for your citizens? I mean amusement a small care," Lasarni says. 

Borough could person warned us, residents say

McIntyre besides maintains that the borough of Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève could person done much to forestall the situation. 

"The City of Montreal did nonstop america letters indicating wherever we were allowed to park, successful my lawsuit indicating that my thoroughfare would beryllium locked down, truthful I don't spot wherefore they didn't pass america astatine the aforesaid time," she said. 

Borough Mayor Doug Hurley says helium is alert of the concern but declined to remark further due to the fact that the contented falls nether the jurisdiction of the provincial government.

Revenue Québec says it can't accidental precisely however galore homes were investigated for violations in Île-Bizard during the Presidents Cup due to the fact that it does not interruption down its information by municipality. 

According to the agency's website, determination were a full of 702 inspections successful Montreal betwixt April 1 and December 31, 2024. Some 223 cases were filed starring to 193 convictions and $984,527 successful fines collected. 

"They should person an work to simply pass america and archer us, 'you're not wrong the confines of the instrumentality and you person 24 hours to region your location from the website.' I warrant you 100 per cent of america would person removed our homes," McIntrye says. 

The PGA confirmed to CBC that they bash person a narration with Rent Like A Champion but declined to remark immoderate further connected the situation. Rent Like A Champion did not respond to CBC's petition for comment.  

Accommodation For The Event laminitis and accommodation manager, Brian Higgins, said that successful his opinion, it is "in mediocre taste" for the authorities of Quebec to good his clients, particularly if they don't successfully rent their home.

He added his tract is successful nary mode affiliated with the PGA and added that this is made wide successful the presumption and conditions each idiosyncratic agrees to earlier posting. 

McIntryre, meanwhile, has a connection for immoderate homeowners who whitethorn person posted their homes for rent without a registration fig successful the lead-up to the Presidents Cup and person not yet been fined. 

"It's excessively late," she said. "Please scope retired to us. We're trying to radical together."