Moncton councillor wants city to look at short-term rentals in wake of deadly Montreal fire

A deadly fire in Montreal last month has spurreda Moncton councillor to call for the city to address short-term rentals.

"There are some real problems with respect to safety," said Coun.Charles Lger.

On March 16, a fire tore through a three-storey building in Montreal. Ithad been converted into residential units froman office building dating back to the late 1800s. Seven people died, most of whom were staying in Airbnb units, including a man originally from Grand-Barachois, N.B.

A family member of one of the victims, an 18-year-old woman, has told CBC News she made frantic calls to 911 saying she had no window or other means of escape.

Lger said he found that "really disturbing" and it "really hits home."

An estimate from last fall pegged the number of short-term rental units in Moncton at around 350, according to a document provided to CBC by Lger, but it's not clear where exactly those units are, he said. Platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO only list a general area until a person has booked in.

He started a process this week that could seethe city doing more to track short-term rentals and inspect them.

"It's really about having a permit that allows fire prevention to go in, take a look and make sure that that is a safe short-term rental," Lger said.

Similar systems have been set up in Montreal and Vancouver, he said, with collaboration from Airbnb, whichhas agreed not to list properties until they've been inspected and permitted by fire prevention officers.

Lger thinks it might be relatively easy for Moncton to adopt something similar.

Moncton Fire Chief Conrad Landry said that depends how many units there are, how often they'll need to be inspected and how stringent the rules will be all things he'll be considering in the next couple of months.

If the city is going to promise to do something, it has to ensure the proper resources are in place, he said, adding perhaps fees could be introduced to cover the cost.

If there are hundreds of units, requiring inspections more than once a year, more in-depth than just checking for smoke detectors and clear exits, more staffing will be required, he said.

"All in all, of course, I encourage this and think it's a great idea," said Landry.

"If it's going to make our citizens or tourists safer, I'm all for it."

More and more people are using short-term rentals, said Lger, and authorities owe it to them to make sure they are safe.

"As we give licensing to hotels and motels and other places where people have lodging, I think we need to be able to do the same in a roundabout way with this particular type of bylaw."

Ideally, Lger would like to see provincial legislation, but he thinks a municipal bylaw is more feasible.

He hopes other communities will piggyback on the initiative, "like we did with Ellen's Law," he said, referring to legislation passed in the wake of the death of a cyclist, that requires motorists to give cyclists at least a metre of clearance when passing on the street.

Lger hopes if this catches on people will know to ask whether a place has a permit before booking in there and people renting out units will have to post a certificate on their wall.

Lger has been wanting Moncton council to do something about short term rentals for a while, because they remove supply from the affordable housing market.

But that will take "a lot more politicalwill provincially," he said.

"One step at a time."

There was a recommendation last fall that council continue to monitor what other communities were doing on the short-term rentals issue.

Lger said he voted against it at the time because he wanted the city to move forward with something like Charlottetown was doing.

Staff have been directed to start doing the legwork on recommendations for a possible bylaw to take effect July1, said Lger.

In two weeks, there will be a motion about that for council to vote on, he said.