Patricia McIntyre was preparing to sound in the new year with family and friends at home in île-bizard when there was a blow to the door.
To his surprise, he was received by a sheriff who handed him a couple of envelopes. Inside there was a pile of Documents of the revenue of the Québec income explaining in detail how she had violated the short -term rental rules of the province and that she and her husband now faced fines of $ 3,750 each.
“For me, this is very predator and the government is acting in bad faith,” says McIntyre.
McIntyre never rented his home, but in the period prior to the Presidents Cup, organized at the Royal Montreal Golf Club last September, he decided to publish it in line with a short -term rental website that was recommended by the Professional Golfista Association (PGA). With the great expected crowds and the streets closed to traffic, he thought it would be a good opportunity.
She did not have a tourism registration number, or CITQ, and says that the site, rent as a champion, never gave her any indication that she could be violating local laws. But she knew that if rented, there would be taxes to pay.
“If we had [rented]Yes, I would call the government and discover what the protocol is, how we proceed, “he said.
“But just by simply putting your home on a website, for me it is shocking that they can get it for this.”
Multiple owners who published but did not rent
Since then, McIntyre has learned that he is not alone in his frustration. She says she knows at least nine other housing owners in the area who were attacked by QUEBEC revenue investigators during the period prior to the Presidents Cup. None seems to have successfully found someone to rent their home.
Aisha Lasarni paid us $ 250 to publish his house in accommodation for the event, a site based in Ireland that serves golf fans who seek to remain close to the places of the Golf Tournament.
It was served in papers this week and was surprised to see that the province came after her husband for a total of $ 7,500. Lasari says he only published his house because he expected to leave the city during the tournament to avoid crowds and traffic.
He also says he didn’t know he was violating the provincial rules.
“I want to say that we are not used to renting houses here,” says Lasari. “We are not in the center where we have condominiums where the Jazz festival is, where we rent our houses, where we are violating in the real estate market,” he said.
Like McIntyre, Lasarni’s house was not rented.
“It is not a wrist pat of $ 500 [that says]”Hey, you should have known that you need a permit.” I mean, for a garage sale, he needs a permit, but he does not need a permission if he is thinking of having a garage sale. ”
QUEBEC income accused of acting in bad faith
The case files received by Lasari and McIntyre describe their crimes have dozens of pages. There are photos of the listings, their home from multiple angles and pages of notes taken by the investigators of the QUEBEC income.
“It’s not right. It’s unfair. I mean, how can you do this to people? I’m sure they spent thousands of dollars creating these files against us,” says McIntyre.
In the case of Lasari, there is also a photo of a text message that shows someone, possibly a revenue investigator of Québec, asking about the availability of his home.
“To be honest, it seemed that it was a bit an invasion, a kind of entrapment. As if they went through that effort to investigate our small island, a small island that is not accustomed to seeing any tourist,” Lasarni said.
The couple says they understand that short-term rentals are creating problems in some parts of Montreal, but argue that housing owners in île-Bizard are not who the government should focus.
Revenue The spokeswoman for Québec, Mylène Gagnon, says that fines for violating the tourist accommodation law vary from $ 500 to $ 50,000 for people and that the rules are listed on the government’s website. Any failure to show a registration number on a list, even if the accommodation is not rented, is subject to fines ranging from $ 1,000 to $ 10,000.
Lasarni says that he understands that not being aware of a law is not a valid excuse to violate it, but argues that, since île-bizard is not an area that generally has many visitors, the agency could have acted with more empathy and at least try to warn residents who needed a CITQ number instead of building a case against them.
“What happened to the care of your citizens? I mean showing some care,” says Lasarni.
Borough could have warned us, residents say
McIntyre also argues that the île-Bizard-Saine-Geneviève district could have done more to avoid the situation.
“The city of Montreal sent us letters that indicated where we were allowed to park, in my case indicating that my street would be blocked, so I do not see why they did not warn us at the same time,” he said.
The mayor of the city, Doug Hurley, says he is aware of the situation, but refused to make more comments because the problem falls under the jurisdiction of the provincial government.
Quebec income says that it cannot say exactly how many houses were investigated for violations in île-Bizard during the Presidents Cup because it does not break down its data for the municipality.
According to the agency’s website, there were a total of 702 inspections in Montreal between April 1 and December 31, 2024. Some 223 cases were presented to 193 convictions and $ 984,527 in fines collected.
“They must have the obligation to simply warn us and tell us:” You are not within the limits of the law and you have 24 hours to get your home from the website. “I guarantee that 100 percent of us would have eliminated our houses,” says Mcinty.
The PGA confirmed to CBC that they do have a relationship with the rent as a champion, but refused to comment more about the situation. Rent as a champion did not respond to the request for comments from CBC.
The accommodation for the founder of the event and accommodation manager, Brian Higgins, said that, in his opinion, it is “bad taste” for the Quebec government fine its clients, especially if they do not successfully rent their home.
He added that his site is not affiliated to the PGA and added that this is clear in the terms and conditions that each user accepts before publishing.
Meanwhile, Mcintryre has a message for any owner who has published his houses for rent without a registration number in the period prior to the Presidents Cup and has not yet been fined.
“It’s too late,” he said. “Please contact us. We are trying to group together.”
