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Airbnb says it’s able to take away all gives of unlawful lodging on its website, however the firm says it’s the federal government’s duty to test gives for compliance.
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“What the minister is asking us with Invoice 25 is basically to do the work of civil servants,” Airbnb coverage adviser Camille Boulais-Fairly stated in an interview Tuesday.
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Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx tabled Invoice 25 earlier in Might, geared toward combatting unlawful vacationer lodging. Platforms like Airbnb now have an obligation to make sure that lodging displayed on their website adjust to the regulation, in any other case they danger fines of as much as $100,000 per unlawful itemizing.
The Vacationer Lodging Act, handed in 2021, had made it obligatory to register lodging for short-term rental, however it’s extensively flouted: solely 30 per cent of lodging commercials are authorized in Quebec, in accordance with the tourism ministry. Airbnb says it has no information on the variety of unlawful gives.
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Invoice 25 would impose “too heavy” an administrative burden on Airbnb, Boulais-Fairly stated. “The platforms should do a handbook test of every of the (registration) certificates and should test their validity. … We would not have the function of a regulator. We would not have the facility of a regulator. We don’t have the facility of the police.”
In its temporary, Airbnb argues that it’s the duty of the federal government to do the required verifications itself. It guarantees its full co-operation in eradicating the offending firms. A devoted portal for this type of inspection additionally permits the federal government to withdraw the gives itself.
The town of Ottawa makes use of this technique, Boulais-Fairly stated. “The answer we’re proposing can be a system by which the platforms can be required to withdraw, on the request of the federal government, the commercials that the latter deems non-compliant,” she defined. “It’s a system that’s clear, that’s actually relevant throughout the business, and that retains the platforms accountable.”
Quebec had instruments to crack down on Airbnb, however didn’t act: skilled
