Québec solidaire (QS) is tackling the bidding war on the price of residences which benefits many owners and real estate agents. Prime Minister François Legault responded by calling the left party “out of touch.”
QS proposed a motion Wednesday to end the blind bidding system, which tends to force buyers to outbid while allowing the seller to choose offers much higher than the asking price in the already overheated market . “Buyers do this blindly, under pressure, without knowing what the right price is,” argued the parliamentary leader of QS, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, during question period.
QS therefore demands that the disclosure of simultaneous promises to purchase on the same property be made mandatory. “It’s good for our young people,” he continued. According to her colleague co-spokesperson, Émilise Lessard-Therrien, this is an issue of access to property that people talk about a lot in the party.
“People hesitate between two cans of peas at the supermarket to save a few pennies, but must decide to add tens of thousands of dollars in bidding war on a house without knowing the value of the competing offers,” she said. “It has a direct impact, obviously, on the housing crisis. »
If Mr. Nadeau-Dubois thinks that “putting an end to the bidding war will solve all the problems, I think he is wrong,” retorted CAQ leader François Legault. “Frankly, you have to be disconnected,” he added.
However, he is ready to tighten the rules for real estate agents and brokers. “They have a certain honor and even a code to respect,” he argued.
“When they tell us there is another offer, it should be true. There may indeed be ways to ensure this. We should also know if there are conditions on the other offer that was made. So, we are open to that. »
Remember that a motion is an order from the House, but it does not bind the government. The motion was to be debated in the House on Wednesday afternoon and the vote usually takes place Thursday morning.