Valérie Plante promised Monday to “shed light” on the mechanism used by two real estate developers to collect more than half a million without a single transaction thanks to the City of Montreal’s right of pre-emption.
But “we must not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” she added. “Questioning the right of pre-emption, when there is a housing crisis, is unacceptable. »
The mayor responded to questions from opposition leader Aref Salem, at the municipal council, who denounced a “wild west” in this matter. “The City is paying too much,” he lamented. “Despite this, no control mechanism has been put in place by the administration to prevent speculative slippage and this type of shenanigans. »
The Press revealed Monday that developers Evan Paperman and Maximilian Cukier have increased purchase offers on buildings subject to the City of Montreal’s right of pre-emption since the start of 2023. Their offers included significant compensation in the event of exercise of the right of pre-emption, which would have allowed them to receive $580,000 in a few months.
“What we absolutely want to avoid is that there are maneuvers, ways of doing things put forward by certain promoters to get the job done. For us, this would be totally unacceptable,” the mayor also said on Monday, on the sidelines of a press conference. “And hear me clearly: if this is the case, we will review the regulatory framework, we will find a solution to prevent this from happening again. »
The municipal right of pre-emption, introduced in 2020, allows a city to take the place of any person who wishes to purchase a building in which they have declared an interest. The City must pay the offered price.
MM. Paperman and Cukier ensure that their practices are legal and comply with industry standards.
“We should not question the right of pre-emption, but here we are checking whether there are mechanisms that can benefit people,” said Valérie Plante. “We follow each case and this is something that we had already noticed and that we are in the process of verifying. »