Police in the Outaouais region of Quebec have fined 83 international students $1,000 each after partying at an Airbnb house in the town of Chelsea over the weekend.
The MRC des Collines police squad received a call from neighbours about a noise complaint coming from a rental property at around 2 am on Sunday morning.
An officer from MRC des Collines told Daily Hive they suspected anywhere between 80 to 200 partiers in the house.
Police say the owner who rented the property was not present.
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According to police, it took about two hours to break up the party and issue the fines. International students presented IDs and passports from “various countries,” some of whom had temporary addresses in Canada, and young adults from Quebec City, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Ottawa.
Zone rouge COVID19- 25 octobre. 83 personnes identifiées dans un Airbnb de Chelsea lors d’une fête. Tous des étudiants. 1000$ d’amende chacun. Dossier tjrs sous enquête #policemrc
— PoliceMRCdesCollines (@Police_MRC) October 26, 2020
Police say the fines need to be approved by the courts, under Quebec’s Public Health Act, before delivering the tickets in the mail to the students who were caught.
The MRC des Collines says some partiers took off when they saw the cops, explaining why only 83 fines were issued.
The town of Chelsea, located about 10 km outside of Ottawa, is part of the municipality of Outaouais, which is under Quebec’s red zone alert — the province’s maximum COVID-19 alert level.
Police say they will reach out to public health, Airbnb, and the home owner during its investigation.
In August, Airbnb announced a global party ban for all of its listings, capping guests at a maximum of 16, designed to mitigate any efforts to “misuse an Airbnb for a party.”
Ben Breit, a spokesperson for Airbnb told Daily Hive, “house parties are currently banned on Airbnb globally, and we are investigating this incident.”
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