Finding accommodation has become very difficult these days, but finding accommodation where pets are allowed is even more difficult. The past year, marked by a housing shortage across Quebec, made the search for a roof overwhelming for owners of dogs, cats and other furry and feathered animals.
Amélie Monette knows something about it. Looking for accommodation, she scours the classifieds every day on various platforms such as Kijiji, Facebook and Marketplace, but the outlook is bleak. “I posted an ad on over 50 different groups, and it has been shared over 400 times. But there is nothing below $ 1000, except the 3 1/2 ”, explains Mme Monette who, in addition to being the mother of three children, has two dogs and two cats.
She even offered a security deposit to owners who, in their ad, said “no pets”, but to no avail. “It’s completely unreasonable to put everyone in the same basket right off the bat. Good prior references should serve as a guarantee rather than an automatic rejection. Conditions could also be added to the clauses of the lease, such as costs of restoring the premises at the expense of the tenant in the event of damage by the animal, ”she argues.
Perseverance ended up paying off for another tenant with whom The duty spoke. After months of research, this tenant, who preferred to remain anonymous given the difficulties she faced, managed to find accommodation that accepted her golden retriever. But the research was not easy. “We called hundreds of owners and each time it was a categorical no or only one small dog was allowed. We visited all kinds of housing, dilapidated and very small. In some cases, owners did not come to the meeting, ”she says.
She eventually managed to find an owner who accepted her dog, but had to agree to state in the lease that dogs were prohibited. “That way, if something happens, he can have recourse and ask us for the dog to get out.” “However, she regrets having to pay for the bad tenants:” The owners put all the big dogs in the same boat. For them, dogs, it destroys everything or it barks non-stop. “
The cat or the accommodation
The difficulty of finding accommodation with a pet is not new. “The fact that we are in a housing crisis, that exacerbates the problem, because the owners have the big end of the stick and can impose what they want”, explains Me Sophie Gaillard, director of animal rights at the Montreal SPCA.
Each year, the organization records an increase in drop-out cases around the 1er July, but the phenomenon is not limited to this period. “In recent weeks, we have received a lot of animals due to evictions,” remarks Laurence Massé, communications director at the Montreal SPCA.
At the SPCA Laurentides-Labelle, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, the problem has become common. “It’s always been there, but it’s worse with the housing shortage. What we are seeing are desperate people who have to part with their animal because they have not found housing, ”indicates its general manager, Corinne Gonzalez. “Just yesterday, we received a cat. The landlord had given the tenant until the end of the day to get rid of the cat, otherwise he would kick him out. People do not know their rights, ”she laments.
According to her, it is not only owners who should have the right to have a pet. “An animal is good for a lot of people”, supports Mme Gonzalez: There is no question for her, the owner of a few apartments, of banning animals. His only requirement: that the beast be sterilized. “I have had damage in an apartment before, but it was humans who caused it,” she says.
“Not all animal owners are responsible,” admits Linda Robertson, general manager of the SPCA Montérégie. “There are people who leave at 6 am in the morning to work and come back at 10 am in the evening. It’s not a life for a dog. The organization has also tightened the adoption criteria and, since 2016, it does not give dogs to families with children under 10 years old.
There are people who leave at 6 a.m. to work and come back at 10 a.m. in the evening. It’s not a life for a dog.
Security deposit
In Quebec, the law does not allow owners of rental properties to require a security deposit from their tenants in the event of damage. “But often, animal owners will offer it themselves because it is the only way for them to convince owners to take them”, points out Maxime Roy-Allard, spokesperson for the Regroupement des committees logement et associations of tenants from Quebec (RCLALQ). “For a lot of single people, a pet is an important part of their life. It brings them a lot of comfort in their loneliness. “
The presence of animals represents an additional difficulty for families with children, who are already struggling to find housing. “A landlord cannot refuse a family with small children. Nor does he have the right to discriminate on the basis of ethnicity or sexual orientation. But animals are not a ground for discrimination, ”Mr. Roy-Allard recalls.
For many people alone, a pet is an important part of their life. It brings them a lot of comfort in their loneliness.
The Corporation of Real Estate Owners of Quebec (CORPIQ) believes that each owner must be free to accept or not the animals in his accommodation. “We are very sensitive to the issue,” says CORPIQ Director General Benoit Ste-Marie. He quotes a Léger survey conducted in 2015 among members of the organization. This probe had revealed that 71% of owners allowed cats. As for dogs, one in four owners would accept them, according to the same survey. “It’s a lot more than what people think,” says Mr. Ste-Marie.
He argues that reluctance often comes from other tenants, who do not want cohabitation with the animals in their building. The 2015 survey was also conducted with tenants, and a majority of respondents, 63%, felt that having a dog in an apartment was inappropriate, says Mr. Ste-Marie.
Ontario has made lease clauses prohibiting the presence of animals in a home illegal, and several countries in Europe have similar rules. But the petitions and campaigns led by the SPCA and animal rights groups over the years have never succeeded in bending the Quebec government on this issue.