The rent register and the certification that the City of Montreal wants to establish to counter unsanitary housing should apply to more buildings and include those with six or more apartments, believes the commission that looked into the project. city regulations.
In its report adopted Thursday evening, the Commission on economic and urban development and housing also recommends that the rent register be updated every year, and not every five years.
The “responsible owner” certification project, unveiled by the City last February, aims to tighten the screws on negligent landlords and to fight against the unsanitary problems that affect many rental properties. To obtain their certification, landlords will have to prove that their dwellings are healthy or safe. The project is accompanied by a rent register, which will oblige landlords to declare the amount of their rents in order to curb the rise in prices.
The commission, chaired by the borough councilor in Verdun, Kaïla A. Munro, adopted 21 recommendations Thursday evening. From the outset, the commission approved the implementation of the “responsible landlord” certification and the rent register, but proposed certain modifications.
Thus, the rent register and the “responsible landlord” certification should apply to buildings with six or more units and not be limited to those with eight or more units, the commission believes. And the number of inspectors should be “significantly” increased in order to reduce response times to complaints that will be forwarded to the City.
The commission is also of the opinion that the rent register should be updated every year, which would help tenants to assert their rights before the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), she says. The City will however have to acquire the technological and human resources necessary to validate the data submitted by the owners, however warns the commission.
Ultimately, this register should be able to collect data from all rental properties, regardless of the number of dwellings they contain, the commission believes. Montreal should also try to convince the Quebec government to implement a province-wide rent register.
Among the other recommendations, the commission urges the City to increase the amounts granted to owners for their maintenance and upgrading work on their building and to strengthen support measures for tenants who must be relocated due to the unsanitary or poor condition of their accommodation and put pressure on them.
Exclude recent buildings
Although Ensemble Montréal is in favor of implementing “responsible landlord” certification and setting up the Montréal rent register, the opposition party has some reservations about certain aspects of the project. Member of the commission, Julien Hénault-Ratelle, city councilor in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, judges in particular that the City should prioritize the buildings to be inspected and exclude those whose construction is recent. “Currently, in the regulations, all buildings, including those less than ten years old, must be inspected. For us it is not necessary. The Association of Building Inspectors has also made its concerns known on this subject, ”said the elected official.
Mr. Hénault-Ratelle also believes that the central city will have to significantly increase funding for the boroughs so that they can carry out the required inspections. “We know that there is a crying lack of inspectors in the City of Montreal to enforce the regulations already in place in terms of unsanitary conditions,” he said.
For their part, the associations of owners remain on their positions. The Corporation of Quebec Real Estate Owners (CORPIQ) continues to “vigorously” oppose the rent register given the high costs of the project and its bureaucratic complexity. “No study tends to show that rents are lower in a city that has set up a rent register […], that the dwellings are in better condition and that the sanitary conditions are superior. We are dangling that a rent register will solve everything,” says Marc-André Plante, Director of Public Affairs at CORPIQ. “In our view, resources should be directed towards developing social, affordable and all-kind housing that helps rebalance the market. »
CORPIQ also believes that the “responsible owner” certification should prioritize the oldest buildings to avoid having to devote significant resources to recent buildings in good condition.
“It sends shivers down the spine,” maintains Martin A. Messier, president of the Association of Quebec Owners (APQ). “It’s a major irritant for owners. »
For the APQ, the rent register is “a false solution” which imposes additional constraints on landlords in a context of rent control that is already too strict. “We want to stimulate the growth of our housing stock, but in reality, we are destroying the interest of owners to renovate and build [des logements] he says.