The City of Montreal is asking the Legault government not to touch lease transfers in Bill 31 and is calling for the creation of a public rent register to better protect tenants.
In a memorandum presented on Wednesday, the Plante administration argues that the transfer of lease constitutes a “refuge” against “abuses”. Its representative Robert Beaudry, Saint-Jacques councilor, mentioned that when tenants change, the rent increases by an average of 14%.
Bill 31 would prevent tenants from assigning their lease during the year without the consent of their landlord. “There is a form of solidarity that has established itself within the population,” said Mr. Beaudry, maintaining that in “the middle of a housing crisis, it is not a good time” to eliminate this recourse. .
The metropolis also called for the establishment of a register allowing new tenants to know what rent their predecessors were paying. “It will be an additional tool to balance and make information transparent. »
In theory, landlords are required to indicate the amount of the previous rent on the lease, in what is called “clause G”. However, several groups have indicated that this constraint was not respected.
A Léger survey commissioned by Vivre en ville and conducted among tenants shows that at least 35% of owners do not complete it. The survey carried out among 5,550 people also reveals that many tenants are unaware of its existence, since 45% of respondents were unable to answer the question.
Vivre en ville, which created its own online rent register, directly offered to transfer the tool it created to the Quebec government. This register is currently made up of voluntary registrations, and Vivre en ville would ultimately like to use the tax data of tenants and owners to populate it.
The Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, was not very receptive to this formula, suggesting that governments were wary of registers since the costly fiasco of that of firearms at the federal level.
Beyond the bill
On several occasions, discussions went beyond the bill itself to address the broader housing crisis.
Thus, while the government is juggling the idea of a QST exemption on new buildings, the Union of Quebec Municipalities has opened the door to new municipal tax holidays which would boost construction. “The majority of cities would be willing to reduce the fiscal burden of taxation to give a very big helping hand in this,” declared its president, Martin Damphousse.
The advisory part of the parliamentary commission on Bill 31 must end on Wednesday with presentations from the City of Gatineau, the Federation of Low-Rent Housing Tenants of Quebec, the Association of Owners of Quebec, the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment, of the Regroupement des committees logement et associations de tenants du Québec and the Association of Progressive Jurists.
Once this stage is completed, parliamentarians will begin studying the bill article by article.