Facing a lawsuit in Montreal, advice/info sought

[Shelagh14]

Hello hosts, I've received notification that Revenue Quebec is taking me to court for operating a tourist accommodation without a license. The minimum fine is $3750. Apparently they looked online and saw that on specific dates in May my home was listed on Air BnB, the agent plugged in dates for three nights and saw that she could have booked it. The thing is that when I listed my home the city told me I needn't get a license because, at the time, such wasn't required if I was listing my residence, which I was. Since then the law has changed, but when I checked Air BnB's info they are still advising Montrealers that if you're renting your residency you don't need a license from the province.

I've since changed my listing to 31 day minimum, which means it's not considered "short term" and so is outside the restrictions from the province.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has had a similar experience and how they resolved it. The minimum fine of $3750 is beyond my capabilities these days but going to court to fight this could cost more if I lose. I'm curious if anyone has gone that route and what they learned. 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Shelagh14

[Aniketh0]

Hello I received a lawsuit of 3750$ for me and my wife. Can we contest and what kind of help we can get.Could you please reply for some sugestions

[Richo10]

I want to add my experience here, hope it will help others.

I received on Sep 13, 2022 of two fines $3750 + $3750 (my wife), after spoke to Revenu Quebec agent named on the paper, I replied with non-guilty since it was the only way if you want to fight. To my surprise, the court was set up very quickly for Dec 5, 2022.

I went to court alone this Monday, the judge told me I could not represent my wife unless i'm a lawyer. When it's the time to negotiate with prosecutor, I told her I wanted to fight for both of us, and I didn't expect that I couldn't even represent for my wife. Right away she gave me an offer, if I feel guilty, she will remove my wife's file. That is already the best I could ask for! As many of the cases, the fines are against to everyone on the property list, no matter if they are involved in or not, sometimes even to the baby.

And after that, when I was facing the judge, I requested if the judge could remove some fees since (I lost my job, have two kids, but you could say any of those reasons), the judge agreed to remove the additional fees, so for my file, it will be the minimum $2500 plus administration fee, total about $3000. This part you have to ask from the judge, since the prosecutor told me before the judge is the only one to make the decision on that part.

I left the court with fines from $7500 down to about $3000, payable within 12 months. Hope it will help you to reduce part of your fines. Good luck!

[Helen3]

I think your case is a real lesson for the many hosts out there who don't check to see if there are local government STR restrictions in their location before setting up their STR business. Thank you for sharing @Richo10 

And yes of course you can't represent other people in court other than yourself in most countries jurisdictions unless you have a legal qualification that allows you to do so.

I am not sure why your wife wasn't able to be at court but hopefully she finds a similarly lenient judge. 

[Zee164]

I just received the same fine. At the time I changed my listing to be more than 31 nights but someone first sent a request for the same 32 nights then asked if she can stay for just a weekend of Thanksgiving and I was just being kind I said OK even though my whole month would become unavailable. So I sent her a special offer for three night which she did not accept and I ended up renting my place for 52 nights. Today I got a letter and a full document that the person was an undercover of revenue quebec and now I got 3750$ fine. Please let's do something I followed airbnb and changed my listing for more than 31 nights

[Helen3]

Oh dear you always put your STR business at risk when you choose to operate outside of local STR regulations however good your intentions @Zee164