Housing groups say finding an apartment in Quebec just got a lot harder and more expensive.
The Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), Quebec’s rental board, on Tuesday approved a maximum increase of 5.9 per cent — the biggest single-year rent hike in the last 30 years.
Housing advocates and the city say it’s making a bad situation even worse.
“The consequences for tenants are going to be devastating,” said Amy Darwish, a member of the Coalition of Housing Committees and Tenants Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ).
For the past five years, the maximum increase has risen steadily. For a tenant paying $1,000 per month, that means over the course of a year that’s an additional $708.
“People are having to share apartments with other families or having to take apartments that are just too expensive for them and either have to pick up a second or third job,” Darwish said.
Montreal’s executive committee responded by saying: “We imagine today’s announcement is worrying for many Montreal tenants. What’s particularly concerning is some landlords will try to take advantage of the situation to raise rents in an abusive way.”
The landlord’s group CORPIQ refutes that it’s a recipe for exploitation.
“What we observe in Quebec is the opposite. We have landlords, as I said, who are individuals. They will know their tenants and most of the time, this is one of the reasons why the increases are lower than everywhere else in Canada,” said Éric Sansoucy, CORPIQ’s spokesperson.
Sansoucy says three quarters of landlords in Quebec are individuals not corporations. He says although this isn’t easy to swallow, the raises over the last few years haven’t followed inflation, rising mortgage rates, or the cost of renovations.
He calls this a catch up but knows it will be hard.
“We’re expecting a difficult conversation between the landlords and tenants. It’s not easy news to send,” Sansoucy added.
The City of Montreal added there is an online register so renters can look up their unit’s previous price.
But Darwish says with a vacancy rate at just 2.1 per cent in Montreal some have no choice but to pay.
“We’re seeing a lot of people who are already spending almost the totality of their income on rent,” she said.
Her group met with Duranceau in December demanding an immediate rent freeze and long-term rent control. Instead, she says Tuesday’s announcement is just adding more pressure on already stressed tenants.
