(Quebec) The review of the housing law will finally begin again on Thursday. Key amendments were due to be presented to the Council of Ministers last week, but will instead be considered this week.
Posted at 4:22 p.m.
“It should have been last week, but with the approvals we still needed time,” Minister France-Élaine Duranceau’s press secretary, Justine Vézina, said on Tuesday.
The minister indicated last Thursday that the detailed study would resume “Wednesday or Thursday” and she maintains her aim to adopt it “within the coming weeks”.
Last week, after a single meeting, the detailed consideration of Bill 31, amending various legislative provisions in housing, was suspended under the pretext that the minister had to present a bundle of amendments: 24 of the 38 articles of the bill had to be “rewritten,” complained the opposition parties. They now believe Ms Duranceau’s credibility is “at stake”.
The first version of the long-awaited legal text in the context of the real estate crisis was presented at the end of the last parliamentary session in June.
The minister did not say whether changes are planned to the bill’s most controversial provision, which would allow owners to reject an application to transfer a lease “for a reason other than a serious one.” Tenant rights defenders still believe it is an important tool in the fight against abusive rent increases.
According to FADOQ, the “Françoise David Law” needs to be strengthened
On Tuesday morning, Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois held a joint press conference with groups representing the interests of older people. They are calling for regulations to protect this particularly vulnerable group of tenants.
“The situation is serious for seniors who have to survive on a basic pension or with little additional income,” lamented Pierre Lynch, president of the Quebec Association for the Defense of the Rights of Seniors and Retired Persons.
Same point of view at FADOQ. The groups are calling for an expansion of the “Françoise David Law,” which protects older tenants from evictions. They want more seniors to be protected by this law by lowering the eligibility thresholds to age 65, five years of rental, and increasing the statutory qualifying income.
From Ms. Duranceau’s office, we believe the bill already protects all tenants. In the press briefing, the minister estimated that the legislative document was “very well prepared” and that the consideration of the changes by the Council of Ministers suggests that the articles will now affect “other ministries”.
“In June I introduced a bill that affected my sandbox. The Société d’habitation du Québec, the Administrative Housing Tribunal, the Civil Code in relation to tenants and landlords. There, the changes expand the affected sandbox,” she explained.
with Fanny Lévesque, La Presse
An earlier version of this text said the commission’s work should resume “on Tuesday or Wednesday,” said Minister France-Élaine Duranceau. Instead, she said, “Wednesday or Thursday.”