2024-02-17 22:44:22
The lease renewal period is in full swing across Quebec while many tenants have received rent increases which are historic according to an expert.
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Organizer Catherine Lussier of the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU) affirms in an interview with LCN that the housing crisis is still raging, which means that it can be difficult for tenants discouraged by their increase in rent to find new accommodation.
“Vacancy rates have further decreased and rent increases have been quite rapid in several regions of Quebec,” she said. We are no longer just in certain large centers, we are really across the whole of Quebec where there is this shortage. More and more tenants are having difficulty finding housing.”
The housing shortage isn’t the only reason tenants might fear refusing a rent increase.
“We see it in certain cases where the owners will subsequently be a little meaner towards the tenant, where they will stop going to make repairs or address the tenant differently,” says Ms. Lussier.
The administrative housing court (TAL) via its calculation of the rent adjustment estimates the increase for unheated housing at 4%, a historic jump.
“For many it is the struggle to be able to keep housing that they will be able to pay for,” says the organizer. The increases are the highest in more than 20 years. We have to go back before the 2000s to see an increase of 4% as we see there.”
“Several tenants are already at their limit of ability to pay and for them even the increase that would be justified is a challenge to succeed in paying the rent and also meeting other basic needs,” she continues.
FRAPRU recommends to tenants who notice a gap between the 4% of the TAL and their increase to refuse the increase.
“What we see a lot is that even with this approximate calculation, many tenants will see differences of several dollars between what the owner will ask for and the increase in this calculation,” mentions Catherine Lussier. So sometimes, it’s not very difficult when you just calculate the 4% to see that it’s not necessarily justified.”
Although this option is not always indicated in the lease renewal notice, tenants have the right to object to their rent increase while wishing to remain in their accommodation.
“We often see the absence of the third option, which is to refuse and stay in the accommodation, which is often absent from the notices that owners send,” she adds. Often tenants will agree to leave because they do not believe that they can refuse and stay. First of all, that would help a lot [de l’inclure].»
Housing committees remain the preferred avenue for tenants who wish to obtain help and answers to their questions.
Watch the full interview in the video above
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