Tenant outraged over Airbnb – There seems to be no end to the problems with Airbnb since they first started their online services – connecting people who want to rent out their homes or offer lodging to people looking for accommodations in their area. Covering more than 81,000 cities in 191 countries, the problems abound. In Montreal alone, there have been constant complaints from neighbours living next to or near the rental units – from garbage left all over the place, broken bottles littering the sidewalks and parties lasting until the wee hours of the morning. And Montreal is not alone with these issues. Just recently, three men were killed by gunfire and two were others injured when gunfire broke out at a party taking place at an Airbnb condo in Toronto. As well, Airbnb rentals in this city are estimated to have pulled more than 4,500 units off the market as the vacancy rate fell to a 15-year low. And now a tenant living in downtown Montreal has been speaking out about her frustration with Airbnb units in her building.
According to a CJAD – iHeartRadio news report, Manon Wascher is fed up up with the ‘endless parade of Airbnb renters in her building’ and feels helpless in being able to do anything about it. The ‘constant stream of Airbnb renters is wrecking her once peaceful life, noticing more and more tourists going in and out with their suitcases and partying all the time in her building.’ She claims the elevators are often out of service, machines and locks are breaking, there is noise and things have become dirty and messy in her building. More importantly, the building she lives is in is on Guy Street – and a municipal bylaw makes short-term rentals illegal in that zone. Airbnb rentals are only supposed to be allowed on a part of Sainte-Catherine Street in the borough – and she believes a mini-Airbnb business is operating out of a second-floor apartment. She said ‘at least one Airbnb host is operating multiple units under multiple names, even using one apartment on the second floor as an office. Dozens of sets of keys are visible through the window’. In the meantime, the building’s owners claim they are trying to tackle the problem – but the current bylaws are making it difficult for them to put a stop to it. It begs the question whether Airbnb should have been allowed to take a foothold in this city at all.
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