Draft Law 31 aims to update certain legislation in the field of housing law. On the one hand, it would give landlords the right to refuse to assign a lease, which is often used to avoid rent increases.
In return, it provides for a stricter framework for evictions.
“We have the impression here that everyone loses the levers they wanted to work with,” affirmed Jean-Philippe Meloche, professor and director of the Faculty of Urban Planning and Landscaping at the University of Montreal, in an interview in the midi info program for the ICI Première .
“It’s a bit difficult to know who has been behind this at the grassroots level, especially as these aren’t necessarily measures that will have a very big impact on the housing market for years to come. »
– A quote from Philippe Meloche, Professor and Director of the School of Urban Planning and Landscaping at the University of Montreal
The minister wants to close gaps in housing construction
In an interview on Monday at Tout un matin, Secretary Duranceau asked us to draw the big picture in order to assess what she tabled last Friday in the House of Representatives.
Residential lease regulations have not been reviewed for more than 30 years, she said. The aim of this bill is to close loopholes that have emerged over the years. The market is changing and behavior is changing, the minister argued.
France-Élaine Duranceau, for example, claimed that the bill aims to counteract uncontrolled evictions [faites] by malicious, less compassionate speculators. This is to avoid vulnerable people being caught off guard on the street because they are unaware of their rights, she added.
Thus, a tenant who has received an eviction notice is deemed to have refused it if he does not respond within the time limit. Previously, the opposite was the case: the lack of an answer meant that the tenant had accepted the eviction order. “That’s why we put the burden of proof on the shoulders of the owner,” said France-Élaine Duranceau.
Secondly, tenants who are victims of an eviction are paid compensation equal to one month’s rent per year of uninterrupted stay in the same apartment. The minimum compensation is three months’ rent, the maximum compensation is 24 months’ rent. And it will be in the law, Ms Duranceau said: We don’t have to go to the Administrative Housing Tribunal. [TAL].
Dissatisfied on both sides
In the eyes of the Quebec Owners Association (APQ), the Legault government’s bill creates a new imbalance at the expense of property rights.
For the private owner, these are new obligations and [de nouveaux] Obstacles to managing one’s private property: new obligation for new builds, but also new rules for the repossession of housing and [pour une] Evictions, the APQ denounced in a press release last Friday.
Cédric Dussault, spokesman for the Regroupement des Comités Logement et Associations de Tenants du Québec (RCLALQ), on the other hand, is worried about the prospect of Bill 31 seeing the light of day.
Losing the ability to relinquish their lease deprives renters of one of the last avenues to protect housing affordability, he told ICI Première last Friday 15-18.
The lease transfer is a security that the tenant uses for the transfer […] the lease terms between them, which, if the lease is not transferred, will change through negotiation from one tenant to another, Professor Meloche explained.
If it is not possible to award a lease, negotiations with the next tenants would start over, which is beneficial for owners given the housing shortage, Mr Meloche added.
However, according to Minister Duranceau, this measure was ultimately used in a way that was not initially planned.
“The person who owns the building is the owner; He’s the one taking the risk, he’s the one investing in the building. It is up to him to choose his tenants and not commit himself to third parties without having taken part in the discussion. »
— A quote from France-Élaine Duranceau, Minister for Housing, at the microphone by Patrick Masbourian
A tenant who wishes to leave an apartment can leave at any time, while the landlord can terminate the lease at the tenant’s request, Ms Duranceau said. What we want to stop here is the purchase of leases that the tenant makes [le bail] to the next person or, in some cases, the tenant sells the lease to another person.
Responding to arguments that this would deprive tenants of the opportunity to take action against abusive rent increases, Minister Duranceau replied that the new tenant could know the amount of rent paid by the previous tenant. Additionally, she argued, the landlord was unable to increase the rent by more than the escalation or increase factor prescribed by the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL).
The tenant has ten days before signing the rental agreement to verify the validity and accuracy of the information provided by the owner of the accommodation he/she requests.
Build on the good will of the parties
In the lease, in Clause G, the past rent should be specified and if it is not specified, it will be discussed between tenants in the same building, explained France-Élaine Duranceau. However, the minister acknowledged that this system was based on the good faith of the parties.
“We’ve been working this way for 40 years and it hasn’t harmed Quebec residents,” the minister said, adding that compared to existing rents in British Columbia or Ontario, Quebec has managed to maintain a rental level that is comparable to this one corresponds is reasonable.
In Quebec, the second opposition group complained that this bill could not be examined before the fall because the government of the coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) tabled it just before the summer recess. “Bringing it up on the last day of the parliamentary session is sending the signal that it’s not important to them,” lamented Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques Quebec Solidarity MP Manon Massé, who represents a center horseman . South of Montreal where access to housing is an issue.
According to the Regrouping of Housing Committees and Tenant Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ), Bill 31 will deprive tenants of one of their last resorts in fighting abusive rent increases by prohibiting them from terminating their lease. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio Canada / Ivanoh Demers
What if you don’t have a home on July 1st?
France-Élaine Duranceau has the following message for tenants who need help finding accommodation now: We are still a long way from the date [du 1er juillet]but we encourage people to visit the SHQ website (New Window). [Société d’habitation du Québec] To get help. The housing authorities are there to help and have been told to really empathize and help any people who will need it on July 1st.
In an interview on Monday, Minister Duranceau said she had no figures on the number of people who had not found a home. However, she assured that SHQ monitors all calls about people at risk of homelessness on a daily basis. The people who called [au] Assistance in finding accommodation is supported, she says.
According to the SHQ, there are currently 102 households (39 in Montreal and 63 elsewhere in Quebec) who are being temporarily relocated after appealing for help. The SHQ specifies that it is not about households that are on the street.
No magic solution
On the RCLALQ page, spokesman Cédric Dussault reiterates that July 1 is both very far and very close.
Those who haven’t yet found a place to live will magically not find one, he told Radio-Canada.ca on Monday. And if they find one, it won’t suit them for a number of reasons: too expensive for their standards, too small, unsanitary…
According to Mr. Dussault, the Legault government is moving forward while the situation is difficult for many tenants. He observes that there is an increase in forced evictions, home expropriations and renovations. Additionally, people don’t move around much, knowing how low the vacancy rate is in the province, making it difficult to find housing.
It’s hard to say how many people will be on the streets, but there will be, he laments.
With information from Philippe Robitaille-Grou