Next to shiny Airbnbs, Montreal tenants face construction, mice and fire hazards

Mice chewed through paper-thin walls inside the Guarantee building on St-Laurent Boulevard, mould flourished and pipes leaked near wires in the building's large lofts; the tenants say they get sick often. But through Montreal's busy tourist season, visitors came and went.

Five tenants told CBC News they first became concerned after the fire in an Old Montreal building that killed seven people last year. They said they worried about the short-term rentals in their own building and suspected it was unsafe.

But their landlord, they say, does little to improve the building and instead greenlights construction to turn apartments into short-term units.

According to the Montreal fire department's inspection reports, the building has multiple fire code violations. City inspectors have also flagged problems with cleanliness in the building.

For months, the tenants complained about the problems to various government agencies, but the issues in the building persisted.

The tenants say the poor living conditions, the construction and pressure from their landlord, Simon Rossdeutscher, to raise their rents, are pushing them to leave — but they fear their units will be transformed into short-term rentals if they do. They say they want to preserve the nature of the building, which has been home to working artists for decades.

Those short-term rentals, which were, until recently, listed on Airbnb, advertised large spaces for as many as 12 guests, some of whom were sleeping in windowless rooms, erected without permits, inside loft apartments.

The building is located in one of the few parts of the city where short-term rentals are allowed to operate — if they are registered.

Tenants sent CBC News pictures of the units and links to Airbnb postings that advertised newly renovated apartments and boasted about the bohemian nature of the building.

A city spokesperson said licences were issued for four short-term rentals in the building, but CBC News confirmed that at least five units were advertised for rent on Airbnb. A city inspector noted in May that more units seemed to be primed for short-term use.

A spokesperson for the Plateau-Mont-Royal, where the building is located, said the borough is investigating possible illegal short-term rentals in the building.

The advertisements for the units listed on Airbnb showed clean, renovated apartments.

Meanwhile, tenants said they ran into a maze of bureaucratic red tape when they tried to flag their concerns with the short-term rentals and the general state of the building.

Edson Nievla, a digital artist who has been living in the building with his partner since 2020, reported the rentals and concerns about the construction taking place throughout the building to Airbnb, Revenu Québec, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ), the landlord and the city.