Lévis wants to ban hosting tourists in Airbnb-like primary residences for all of its residential areas. On March 23, the city submitted a motion at a special municipal council meeting.

By Aude Malaret – audemalaret@journaldelevis.ca

The city initiated this process following the recent amendment of the Law on Tourist Accommodation Facilities. This legislation provides that from March 25, 2023, any person may offer rentals in a primary residence not exceeding 31 days. However, the law allows municipalities to prohibit short-term rentals on their territory by changing the municipal zoning code.

“We are really determined to ban tourist accommodation in primary residences in our neighborhoods,” said Lévis Mayor Gilles Lehouillier during the council meeting. It is very regulated by law. We either allow it or we don’t. This is the choice given to us. By submitting this application, we are committed to maintaining the quality of life of the population in residential areas.”

Thus, the first citizen justified this action with the city’s desire to “guarantee the tranquility of citizens living in residential areas, in particular by limiting nuisance, in order to avoid affecting the rental stock in times of housing shortage and to strive for a balance between the tourist offer and maintaining the quality of life of citizens”.

To let citizens know if their area is affected, the city has put an interactive map of the area online. A search engine enables address searches to find out if a residence is in an area affected by the amendment to the law prohibiting short-term rentals of a primary residence to tourists.

A 6-month consultation process

Over the next few weeks, the city of Lévis is organizing three public consultation evenings on April 6th, 12th and 13th. The municipal council will then adopt a second draft of the statute.

“It’s going to be a democratic process that’s going to go very, very far and give people a chance to speak out. Therefore, the citizen will have the last word. That decision is up to him by signing the registers,” said Gilles Lehouillier, before specifying that the whole process should take about six months.

Citizens opposed to amending the municipal ordinance prohibiting the accommodation of tourists in primary residences for short stays of 31 days or less will then have the opportunity to sign a register for the ordinance to be presented to zone voters when the number of signatures suffice. A register will be available for each affected residential area. Finally, a referendum procedure could be initiated in the areas concerned.

The city has set aside a maximum of $590,000 to cover costs associated with maintaining the registers and any referenda.