As the housing crisis heats up in Montreal, short-term rental sites like Airbnb have drawn criticism from renters. Thousands of apartments are being taken off the market by Airbnb alone. 

Operators stand to make massive profits from short-term rentals. But landlords also stand to gain by letting them into their buildings, even if they don’t take a cut of those profits.

Zachary Kamel, a freelance journalist who’s been reporting on Montreal’s Airbnb network for Ricochet, tells CKUT about his latest investigation on a practice they’re calling “the Montreal Shuffle”: a move where landlords evict tenants, jack up rents, and contract out their units to short-term rental operators.

He says that landlords don’t just benefit from the much higher rents these operators are willing to pay – they can also sell or refinance their buildings for more.

While the initial evictions might be illegal, they also might be within landlords’ rights. Either way, they’re often difficult for tenants to fight.

Otherwise, Kamel says there isn’t much on the books to prohibit these kinds of arrangements.

Quebec has tabled legislation that would levy big fines on platforms like Airbnb if listings are unlicensed.

Currently, however, the site is rife with fake license numbers and the platform is denying responsibility for checking them, despite the new law.

"They have absolutely no plans of enforcing it."

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