Quebec promised in June to tighten the screws on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, but the number of illegal listings on the site is still on the rise — and some hosts are becoming increasingly creative in their ways to circumvent the law.
Following a deadly March fire in an Old Montreal heritage building that killed seven people — including six staying in Airbnbs — Airbnb said it would pull listings in Quebec that don’t have a permit from the provincial government.
While listings without a licence number no longer showed availability, and about half the ads in Montreal were taken off the site, several hosts began entering bogus registration numbers to get around the restrictions, according
