The Quebec government must act to make insurers aware of the importance of protecting heritage homes, says the MRC des Maskoutains. Insurance companies are less and less inclined to insure these houses of collective importance, regrets André Charron, the general manager of this MRC. “We increasingly want to protect heritage in municipalities, but the attitude of insurers risks having the opposite effect! We have to settle that. It presses. »
The MRC des Maskoutains, supported by 17 mayors of the region, wrote to this end to Mathieu Lacombe, the Minister of Culture and Communications, encouraging all municipalities and MRCs in Quebec to do the same. Several have followed suit, noting exactly the same problems at home.
Stories of insurers who withdraw from old buildings, planning and heritage advisor Robert Mayrand has heard many. “I constantly hear aberrations! Look: the case of a lady who has a house surmounted by a hundred-year-old Canadian tin roof. They tell her that she is not insurable because her roof is too old! The insurer does not even come to see that this type of roof, like many from this era, is in perfect condition. It’s not the same as a new house, with asphalt shingles. In other words, it’s not over just because it’s old! »
According to the MRC, insurers raise their eyebrows not only in front of “buildings with legal protection status”, but also in the face of an indistinct set of buildings when they are considered, directly or indirectly, as heritage. Their interpretation of heritage, specifies the MRC in its letter addressed to Minister Lacombe, “extends this qualification excessively”, which demonstrates “a deep misunderstanding of this denomination, as well as of the various urban planning tools put in place to frame the interventions on these goods and these sensitive environments”.
“Several citizens have contacted the MRC to report that their insurer recently refused to insure their house simply because it is over 100 years old. However, heritage is in part what ensures the value of our common spaces,” says André Charron, director general of the MRC des Maskoutains. “We no longer want to have disasters like in Chambly! Chambly number 2, that does not interest us, ”he continues. In 2018, the home of a patriot from 1837-1838 was destroyed by the municipality of Chambly, in an effort orchestrated by the then-mayor to create a media diversion following a report from the show Surveyof Radio-Canada, which placed him in the hot seat.
If it continues like this, we will lose our heritage values. It would be a disaster.
“If it becomes difficult to insure property that makes us all rich,” adds Mr. Charron, “insurers will contribute to the loss of value in our towns and villages. Their attitude produces a perverse effect. We have to take care of it. »
Still according to the MRC, the actions of insurers are detrimental to new efforts to identify and protect Quebec heritage as a whole, which risks causing discouragement on the part of owners and could lead to a depreciation of Quebec heritage. The minister responsible is therefore asked to work with insurers so that changes are made. More specifically, the MRC asks Quebec City “to intervene with the Government of Canada and the competent authorities to quickly find solutions to guarantee, at a reasonable cost, the insurability of all heritage buildings, regardless of age. of the building “.
A municipal movement
“Several insurers openly and systematically refuse to insure such property, and others, in a more insidious way, simply discourage owners with unrealistic premiums”, note the elected officials of the MRC, while encouraging the various Quebec municipal authorities to follow in their footsteps and to express their distress to Quebec in this file.
“The 17 mayors of the MRC des Maskoutains all agree to put pressure on the government,” says André Charron. Their call has been communicated to other authorities and is gradually snowballing, he says. At the moment, he says, advances in favor of heritage are causing an unexpected and completely negative boomerang effect in relation to the protection objectives sought by municipalities and by Quebec.
In its letter addressed to Minister Lacombe, the MRC assures that the issue of heritage preservation is “now taking on unsuspected proportions, risking seriously compromising the efforts of the government and the municipalities and [d’]cancel the benefits, unless rapid action is taken by government authorities”. This situation has been reported more than once in the public square, but it is the first time that municipal authorities have mobilized on this issue in a common spirit.
The municipality of Ange-Gardien is one of those who have supported the approach of the MRC des Maskoutains with an official resolution. Its general manager, Brigitte Vachon, notes that she has not had any cases brought to her attention within her scope, but she is well aware that this is a real problem. “In our heritage zone, I do not believe that owners have had any difficulties with insurers. Not to my knowledge, anyway. But if that were to happen, as it seems to be in some places, it would be catastrophic. »
To avoid the worst
According to Marie-Pier Hébert, the clerk of the MRC des Maskoutains, the approach aims to ensure that “the government intervenes with the insurance companies” as soon as possible. She notes, like others, that “it costs an arm and a leg for those who want to be insured and that many end up not being insured”. And this leads to a loss of values in the whole of society. “If it continues like this, we will lose our heritage values. It would be a disaster. »
All municipalities and RCMs were invited to do the same. The initiative has just been launched. “As the RCMs and municipalities are invited to express their concerns directly to the Minister of Culture and Communications, [Mathieu Lacombe], it is difficult to know exactly how many have already responded. I know that some MRCs and several cities have already reacted. »
For several years now, defenders of Quebec heritage have been concerned about the way in which insurance companies charge these collective riches with too high a share of risk. The association Friends and owners of old houses of Quebec has often deplored that the question of insurance constitutes a problem for those who strive to preserve Quebec’s heritage. The file seems to be regressing, according to the MRCs.
Joined by The duty, the cabinet of the Ministry of Culture and Communications says it is aware of the problem. “In view of what is happening at the moment, we are in the process of determining what can be done and we are examining various options”, assures the press secretary of the minister. Mathieu Lacombe says he is “concerned about the situation experienced by the municipalities”, since “it is about preserving our Quebec heritage and therefore our identity”.