Developers must better adapt to the many delays currently experienced by construction sites in order to limit the risks to the safety and quality of life of residents of new real estate developments, pleads the Association de la construction du Québec (ACQ).
The duty reported on Thursday the numerous problems experienced by the tenants of an imposing building complex in the Griffintown district, where several common areas are still under construction, while various problems have been reported in the apartments, which would have in several cases been put up for rent before being rented. be fully furnished.
However, this is only one case among others, in a context where delays on construction sites are multiplying due in particular to the shortage of labor and the challenges of supplying materials. “I am not at all surprised that units are delivered before they are finished due to delays on construction sites,” says ACQ public affairs manager Guillaume Houle.
“The problem we have is that there are 100,000 homes missing on the market [au Québec], so there is pressure on the market to get out of housing and people want them right away, ”said the director of public affairs for the Corporation of property owners in Quebec, Marc-André Plante. “There is enormous pressure to deliver housing in Quebec” in order to meet growing demand, he recalls.
Safety first
Strong demand from developers to build condominiums and rental housing, in Montreal as elsewhere in Quebec, is colliding with a sluggish construction industry.
People should never be allowed to occupy buildings that are not completed.
“At that time, it’s up to everyone to protect themselves” to prepare for delays in the delivery of real estate projects, believes Mr. Houle, and thus prevent new occupants from moving into housing that is not really ready to welcome them.
“We must not fall into the trap of delivering units that are not safe,” insists Guillaume Houle, who notes that construction contractors are under “a lot of pressure” at the moment to meet strong demand. Hence the importance of developers being open to adapting the timelines of their real estate projects to the current reality of the construction industry, he argues.
“People should never be allowed to occupy buildings that are not completed” if they pose security issues, such as the lack of ramps on fire escapes or fire separations where it is required, also hammers the president of the Regroupement of managers and co-owners of Quebec, Yves Joli-Coeur.
Future owner-occupiers can try to negotiate clauses in their “preliminary contract” providing for certain financial compensation if the real estate projects are delayed, indicates Ms.e Ludovic Le Draoullec, who is a condominium lawyer. However, such “guarantee plans” generally protect homeowners better than those occupying a unit in large real estate developments, notes Ms.e Joli-Coeur, who considers this situation “unacceptable”.
As for the tenants, “they are a little caught in a vice”, since it is only once they have signed their lease that they can contest the state of their new housing, underlines the spokesperson of the Regrouping of Housing Committees and Tenant Associations of Quebec, Martin Blanchard. They must therefore generally wait until they have moved into it before considering claiming compensation, such as a reduction in their rent, if they consider that their new apartment is not in a suitable state.
“If the accommodation is not ready, the tenant is not required to pay the rent until the accommodation is habitable”, underlines for his part the lawyer in housing law Manuel Johnson. In the event that inspectors find that a dwelling is “dangerous”, tenants can then claim compensation, he adds.