The Minister responsible for Housing, Andrée Laforest, wants to table a bill, by the end of the parliamentary session, to modify clause F, which allows certain landlords to impose excessive rent increases.
“I have legislative intentions to move forward,” said the minister during the presentation of the budget appropriations on Tuesday. Saying she wants to intervene “as soon as possible”, Ms. Laforest certainly does not have much time to present a new bill and have it adopted by the end of the parliamentary session in mid-June.
Section F of Quebec leases allows owners of recent buildings to impose disproportionate rent increases, without tenants being able to contest them before the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL). In recent months, the media have reported several stories of abuse suffered by tenants because of this clause.
In February, the minister made a commitment to act on this file. But in an exchange on Tuesday, the solidarity deputy Andrés Fontecilla pleaded that time was running out for the minister and that his bill should not be too bulky so that parliamentarians have time to study it and adopt it. .
A “crisis” that affects less Montreal and Abitibi
One after another, opposition MPs criticized the minister for minimizing the importance of the housing crisis in Montreal and Abitibi. Since acknowledging the existence of the crisis last week, Ms. Laforest has repeated that the situation is less dramatic in Montreal and in regions where net migration has been negative since the pandemic (Laval, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, North Shore, Northern Quebec and Outaouais).
The Minister repeats that in Montreal, the vacancy rate exceeds 3% (the reference threshold for equilibrium on the market). However, she said, the metropolis is rather experiencing an “affordability crisis”, the prices of apartments being too expensive.
More details will follow…