What Montreal’s short-term rental rules mean for long-term supply this summer

What are Montreal’s short-term rental rules in summer 2026?

As of summer 2026, Montreal allows tourist rentals of 31 days or fewer in a host’s principal residence only, and only between June 10 and September 10 each year, according to the City of Montreal. Outside that window, renting out a principal residence to tourists isn’t permitted, no matter what permits a host holds.

The summer window: June 10 to September 10

The window runs on a fixed calendar, not a running total of nights. A host can rent their principal residence more than once during those months, as long as each stay is 31 days or fewer, per the city’s current guidance on renting a principal residence to tourists. There’s no provision to bank unused summer days and use them later in the year, though that’s one of the things city hall is currently reconsidering (more on that below).

Principal residence only, and what it means for tenants

The rule is tied to where the host actually lives, not simply to ownership. A second property or an investment condo rented out full time doesn’t qualify. Under those same city rules, a tenant can’t sublet their unit as a short-term rental unless the lease allows it or the landlord gives written authorization first, and a landlord can’t list a tenant’s unit that way without that same consent.

Registration steps and what they cost in 2026

Getting set up legally means clearing two separate registrations. Quebec requires anyone offering a stay of 31 days or fewer for payment to register the property, and the province’s 2026 fee for a principal-residence tourist accommodation establishment is $54, according to the Government of Quebec. Montreal then requires its own municipal host permit, currently priced at $350 including taxes. Hosts are expected to complete both the provincial registration and the municipal permit process before advertising a qualifying principal residence on a booking platform.

Which Montreal boroughs restrict short-term rentals?

Three boroughs are excluded from the summer window entirely. Lachine, Saint-Laurent, and Saint-Léonard don’t allow a principal residence to be rented to tourists, even between June 10 and September 10, according to the City of Montreal.

What the restriction covers, and what it doesn’t

The restriction applies to principal-residence tourist rentals specifically, the type most hosts use. It doesn’t necessarily settle the question for every commercial or specially zoned tourist accommodation in those boroughs, which can fall under separate zoning rules. Anyone planning around short-term income in Lachine, Saint-Laurent, or Saint-Léonard should confirm zoning directly with the borough rather than assume the door is fully closed or fully open.

How to check the rules for your address

Rules can vary by street even within a permitted borough, since some zones limit or exclude tourist accommodation regardless of the citywide window. The most reliable way to confirm what applies to a specific address is to check directly with the City of Montreal or the property’s borough office. For more on rental rules across the province, see liv.rent’s Quebec rental law resources.

Did the rules actually increase long-term housing supply?

This is the least settled part of the story. The city, an independent academic study, an industry-commissioned report, and Canada’s national housing agency have each looked at some version of this question over the past year and a half, and they don’t all point the same direction.

What the city estimated when the rule passed

When Montreal adopted the bylaw in 2025, the city estimated the change could return roughly 2,000 units to the long-term rental market, according to CBC News reporting at the time. That figure was a projection made before the rule took effect, not a measured outcome, and it hasn’t been publicly updated since.

What an independent McGill study found

Some of the more substantial independent evidence comes from a McGill University study, highlighted in an August 12, 2026 university news release drawing on peer-reviewed research published in the journal Regional Studies. Looking at Canadian municipalities that restricted principal-residence short-term rentals between 2017 and 2022, researchers linked the restrictions to renters saving a combined $192.4 million a month by 2023. Rents in the 309 regulated neighbourhoods studied ran about $24 lower within a year of a restriction, climbing to $55 lower over time, while rents in nearby unregulated neighbourhoods fell by roughly $40, a pattern the researchers read as evidence that rental markets respond regionally rather than block by block. Montreal’s rules specifically were linked to lower rents in neighbouring Laval and Longueuil. The study is national in scope, so it doesn’t measure Montreal’s 2025 bylaw in isolation.

What an Airbnb-commissioned analysis found

The opposing view comes from an analysis by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, commissioned by Airbnb and published in March 2026. It argues Montreal’s rules haven’t meaningfully improved vacancy rates or long-term rents, and projects a shortfall of more than 26,000 accommodation nights, with over $19 million in economic activity at risk, during the 2026 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix and UCI World Cycling Championships. Because Airbnb commissioned the analysis, it’s best read as an industry perspective rather than an independent evaluation of Montreal’s housing outcomes.

What CMHC and liv.rent’s own numbers show

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s mid-year 2026 update, published June 9, found Montreal’s vacancies rose while tenant turnover fell across most rent quartiles, concentrated in buildings completed after 2020 and near post-secondary institutions. liv.rent’s own August 2026 Montreal Rent Report adds a first-party data point: the average asking rent for an unfurnished one-bedroom fell 5.2% year over year to $1,605, and nine of the ten neighbourhoods liv.rent tracks posted lower unfurnished one-bedroom rents than a year earlier, led by a 13.8% drop in Villeray-Parc-Extension. None of this proves the short-term rental rules caused the decline on their own. Montreal’s rental market has several forces moving through it at once, including a wave of new purpose-built supply, so the rules are best read as one plausible contributor among several, not the whole explanation.

What the summer window means for renters searching right now

Summer is the toughest season to compete with short-term listings

For renters, summer is when legal short-term rental activity can peak, since June 10 to September 10 is when qualifying principal-residence hosts can operate in most Montreal boroughs. That overlaps with the same months when many long-term leases turn over in Quebec, so renters searching in July can end up competing with furnished, short-stay inventory for units in the same buildings and neighbourhoods.

What happens after September 10

After September 10, a principal residence that qualified for summer hosting can no longer be rented to tourists for stays of 31 days or fewer, under the city’s summer window rules. That stays true until the following June 10. It’s possible some hosts shift toward longer stays or a long-term lease once the window closes, but there’s no published City of Montreal figure confirming how many units convert to long-term rental use each year.

The 31-day workaround, and where to look for a real lease

Quebec’s tourist-accommodation registration requirement applies to paid stays of 31 days or fewer. A lease of a month or longer generally falls outside that framework, though it’s still subject to ordinary lease, housing, and municipal rules, it just isn’t governed by the short-term rental regime. For renters who want a genuine long-term home rather than a month-to-month stopgap, checking the lease term, an ID-verified landlord, and a verified listing badge is a reasonable way to tell a real long-term rental from a short-stay listing dressed up as one. liv.rent’s Montreal listings and its guide to finding a long-term rental are built around exactly that kind of search.

What the rules mean for Montreal landlords and property owners

Who’s actually allowed to operate a short-term rental

In most Montreal boroughs, a host can only rent their own principal residence to tourists during the permitted summer window. A landlord generally can’t use a separate investment property as a short-term rental simply because they own it, since the rule is tied to the operator’s own principal residence, not to ownership alone. For an investor holding a Montreal condo purely as a rental property, the seasonal short-term option generally isn’t available at all, which pushes most investment-property owners toward long-term leasing by default.

Quebec’s 2026 rent-setting rules for long-term leases

For landlords leasing long term instead, Quebec’s Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) lists the 2026 base percentage applicable to rent at 3.1%, down from 4.5% in 2025. That figure isn’t an automatic increase every landlord can apply across the board; it’s one input into a building-specific calculation that also weighs costs, taxes, and capital work, and either side can bring a dispute to the TAL if they disagree with the result.

Weighing a summer rental income against a long-term tenant

The seasonal option is narrower than it might first look: roughly three months of potential tourist-rental income, two separate registration or permit costs, and competition from every other host doing the same thing in the same window. A long-term lease produces income across 12 months and falls under Quebec’s rent-setting framework rather than a fixed summer calendar. liv.rent’s guide to screening tenants and guide to writing an attractive rental ad are built for landlords choosing that route.

How Montreal compares with other Canadian cities

Toronto: principal residence plus an annual night cap

Toronto also restricts short-term rentals to an operator’s principal residence and requires city registration. The City of Toronto lists its 2026 renewal fee at $390. Rather than a seasonal window, Toronto caps whole-home short-term rentals at 180 nights a year, and its official operator guidance doesn’t describe anything resembling Montreal’s fixed calendar restriction.

British Columbia: a province-wide, not city-specific, framework

British Columbia takes a third approach. In many B.C. communities, the province’s principal-residence requirement limits short-term rentals to a host’s main home, plus in some cases one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit on the same property. Hosts in B.C. have also had to register with the provincial short-term rental registry to operate since May 1, 2025. Because the principal-residence requirement doesn’t apply the same way in every community, hosts and renters alike should check the current provincial list and local bylaws before relying on it.

Here’s how the three frameworks compare on the points renters and hosts ask about most:

Region	Who can operate	Annual limit	Registration required
Montreal, Quebec	Host’s principal residence only	June 10 to September 10 each year (a switch to a flexible 90-day cap is planned for later in 2026)	City permit ($350) plus provincial registration ($54)
Toronto, Ontario	Host’s principal residence only	Up to 180 nights a year for whole-home stays	City registration (2026 renewal fee: $390)
British Columbia (many communities)	Principal residence, plus up to one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit in some areas	No fixed provincial seasonal window; local bylaws can also apply	Provincial short-term rental registry required to operate since May 1, 2025

Of the three, Montreal is the only one built around a fixed calendar window rather than a running total of nights or a straightforward principal-residence rule, though that’s the piece the city is now actively working to change.

What could change next

The city’s own plan to replace the summer window

This isn’t a fringe idea anymore. Soraya Martinez Ferrada campaigned on replacing the fixed June 10 to September 10 window with a flexible cap of up to 90 days a year that hosts could use anytime, according to CBC News coverage of the campaign, and her party, Ensemble Montréal, went on to win Montreal’s November 2025 municipal election. Since taking office, her administration has confirmed it’s moving ahead with that change: alongside the flexible 90-day allowance, the plan includes banning short-term rentals of commercial spaces and expanding the number of inspectors who enforce the rules.

Where things stand as of August 2026

The original June 10 to September 10 window remains the rule in effect. The changes weren’t ready in time for the 2026 Formula 1 Grand Prix in May, and the mayor’s office has said it intends to introduce a new bylaw this fall. Airbnb has been actively lobbying city hall to loosen the rules further, while Ericka Alneus, the city council’s opposition leader from Projet Montréal, has argued that more than 7,000 short-term rental units could return to Montreal’s long-term rental market if commercial short-term rentals are banned outright, a claim tied to her push for the administration to move faster and more clearly on the file.

What it could mean for long-term supply

The two rules under discussion pull in different directions. A year-round 90-day allowance would remove the predictable autumn conversion point renters currently see, since hosts could spread their nights across the calendar instead of clustering them in summer. A ban on commercial, non-principal-residence short-term

What are Montreal's short-term rental rules in 2026?

A host can rent out their principal residence to tourists (stays of 31 days or fewer) only between June 10 and September 10 each year. Doing so legally requires a $54 provincial registration and a $350 municipal host permit, according to the City of Montreal.

What happens to Montreal short-term rentals after September 10?

A principal residence that qualified for summer hosting can no longer be rented to tourists for stays of 31 days or fewer once September 10 passes, under the city’s summer window rules. That stays in effect until the window reopens the following June 10.

Which Montreal boroughs don't allow short-term rentals?

Lachine, Saint-Laurent, and Saint-Léonard don’t allow a principal residence to be rented to tourists, even during the summer window, according to the City of Montreal. Other forms of tourist accommodation in those boroughs can be subject to separate zoning rules, so it’s worth confirming directly with the borough.

Did Montreal's short-term rental rules actually increase long-term housing supply?

The evidence is mixed. An independent McGill University study (August 2026) linked short-term rental restrictions to lower rents in regulated neighbourhoods nationally, with spillover effects in Laval and Longueuil, and CMHC’s mid-year 2026 update found Montreal vacancies rising while turnover slowed. An Airbnb-commissioned analysis from Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (March 2026) argues the rules haven’t improved vacancy or rents. liv.rent’s own August 2026 Montreal Rent Report shows unfurnished one-bedroom rents down 5.2% year over year, though that reflects several market forces at once, not the short-term rental rules alone.

Can a tenant sublet their Montreal apartment as a short-term rental?

Only with the landlord’s permission. The lease has to allow short-term tourist use, or the landlord has to give written authorization, before a tenant can list the unit that way.

What is Quebec's rent-setting percentage for 2026?

Quebec’s Tribunal administratif du logement lists the 2026 base percentage applicable to rent at 3.1%, down from 4.5% in 2025. It’s one input into a building-specific calculation, not an automatic increase every landlord can apply.

Is Montreal changing its short-term rental rules?

Yes, and it’s further along than a proposal. Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada campaigned on replacing the fixed June 10 to September 10 window with a flexible 90-day annual allowance, and her administration has confirmed it’s moving ahead with that change alongside a ban on commercial short-term rentals. As of August 2026, the original summer window is still the rule in effect, with a new bylaw expected this fall.

How does Montreal's approach compare with Toronto or British Columbia?

Toronto restricts short-term rentals to a host’s principal residence and caps whole-home stays at 180 nights a year, with no seasonal blackout. British Columbia’s provincial framework limits many communities to a principal residence plus, in some cases, one secondary suite, with province-wide registry rules since May 1, 2025. Montreal is currently the only one of the three built around a fixed calendar window, though that’s the piece expected to change later in 2026.