About forty people demonstrated against Law 31 in Quebec on Thursday morning.
This is a complaint from both owner groups and tenants. This bill would allow landlords to refuse to assign a lease without good reason, while some tenants chose to use the assignment of the lease to avoid excessive rent increases to the next occupant of their home.
In a context where rents are the problem, this is completely absurd. It’s unjustifiable, says Jonathan Carmichael, spokesman for the Greater Quebec Office of Animation and Information Housing (BAIL).
In its latest report, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) quantifies the protective effect of a lease assignment against rent increases. Rent growth in Quebec City’s CMA was 8.2% for 2-bedroom units that experienced tenant turnover in 2022. For those whose residents did not change, it was 3.8%. A difference of 4%.
In Montreal, that increase was 14.5% for homes that received new tenants and 3.5% for those where tenants stayed.
“It is the most effective moving tool available today,” adds M. Carmichael. It is unjustified to give them in the context of the housing crisis and rising rents [aux propriétaires] still the big end of the stick.
Jonathan Carmichael.
Photo: Radio Canada
The tenants are the entire working class, a large part of the middle class are the students, the young families. I can’t believe it, believe in solidarity Sol Zanetti, Jean-Lesage’s deputy, present at the rally.
discrimination?
According to Jonathan Carmichael, the end of leases opens the door to discrimination.
The tenant wishing to transfer their lease must take the same steps as before: find a tenant to take their place and send notice of the transfer to the owners.
In its latest report, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) quantifies the protective effect of a lease assignment against rent increases.
Photo: Radio Canada / Ivanoh Demers
Only when the owner receives the transfer notice can he say, “Finally, I’m releasing you from the lease,” the spokesman warns.
“It is certain that it is an open door for discrimination. [Le propriétaire] Look at the candidate’s name, a person with children, of foreign origin, and say: I don’t want that in my building. »
– A quote from Jonathan Carmichael, BAIL spokesperson
Getting a lease makes it easier to access housing. It is less obvious for the owner to discriminate against a candidate than it might be the case when looking for a flat, he explains.
The tenant can always protect himself against abusive rent increases by rejecting his increase on the basis of the prices of the old rent.
However, according to Carmichael, these effects are less effective than leasehold assignments. Due to the housing shortage, some landlords would encourage tenants to accept their raise given the difficulty of moving, the spokesman believes.
The minister defends her bill
Minister Duranceau is defending her bill, saying she wants to close the shortcomings she believes have emerged in the residential rental market over the years.
According to Minister Duranceau, the lease agreements were ultimately used in a way that had not been planned from the outset. The owner of 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 to commit himself to third parties without having taken part in the discussion, the minister said on June 10th.
France-Élaine Duranceau, Quebec Minister for Housing, at the entrance to the Council of Ministers on June 21, 2023.
Photo: Radio Canada / Sylvain Roy Roussel
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.
Bill 31 also provides a stricter framework for evictions.