Demo against Bill 31 held on St-Denis
A demonstration against Bill 31 was held Saturday on St‑Denis Street in Petite‑Patrie. The bill would end lease transfers, making it more difficult to keep rent increases down.
Housing minister and real estate agent France‑Élaine Duranceau is dead set against giving tenants any advantages. She recently refused to enlarge eviction protections for seniors as well.
Deborah Ancel 22:42 on 2024-02-03 Permalink
Transfering the lease was the only option I had when I bought a house in 2005 (I didn’t want to sublet). There are less nefarious reasons for transfering a lease than trading rents. They would have gotten $200/month more if they’d let me give notice or pay a penalty.
I hope that lease transfered over and over and over forever.
Ian 19:39 on 2024-02-04 Permalink
A lease transfer isn’t such a bad thing for a landlord – if their building is well kept, A lease transfer means you don’t have to jack up the rent, but you also don’t have to do the spit n’ shne between tenants, replace or update anything, paint the walls, etc – and there’s no gap in your rental income.
On the other hand if your goal as a landloard is to put up an ikea shelf and a bucket of primer, call the place “extensively renovated” and double the rent, well, I can see how lease transfers are annoying.
Tim 15:40 on 2024-02-05 Permalink
Kate, are you aware that the legislation makes it so that if a tenant does not respond to an eviction that it will now be considered a rejection by default? Today, it is considered acceptance.
Additionally, there is language such that the landlord has the burden to prove the validity of an eviction. On top of that, it is written that compensation is targeted at 1 month per year with a maximum of 24 months. These are all changes done for the benefit of the tenant.
I also don’t see a problem with giving the landlord power on lease transfers because they should have a say in the person (or people) that will be living in their property. According to https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-tables-bill-31-housing-1.6873292, “landlords still have to fill out Section G of a lease, which indicates how much the previous tenant paid per month. A tenant can then ask the provincial rental board to fix the rent retroactively based on the old rent within 10 days of signing the lease.”
Joey 12:49 on 2024-02-06 Permalink
@Tim there really ought to be some kind of balance between “you can only sublet” and “you can transfer your lease, which will continue in perpetuity at a fixed rate of increase, to just anyone” – maybe the new tenant needs to demonstrate some relevant criteria? That said, it’s impossible for me to understand why this policy change is being introduced now.
As far as Section G goes, that’s all well and good, but in the absence of a lease registry it’s basically impossible for tenants to know whether the amount listed is accurate. The minister could have garnered a lot of goodwill among tenants if she had included a comprehensive lease registry in the legislation, but she didn’t. And when the subject comes up again, everyone will say that it’s too late, we already did Bill 31 and it’s time to implement the new policies, not develop additional tools.
Tim 09:54 on 2024-02-07 Permalink
@Joey: I agree that a lease registry (or some other mechanism to verify the previous lease) is needed to thwart unscrupulous landlords.