The percentages for rent setting by the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) are set to be released on Jan. 19 and The Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) expect them to be among the highest in the last 20 years.
With the cost of rents continuing to rise dramatically and recent changes to Quebec’s rent fixing laws, many Montrealers have been left feeling helpless.
One tenant’s action committee is offering Montrealers in the West Island free workshops to teach tenants about their rights. CityNews spoke with community organizer Lily Martin for the West Island Tenant’s Action Committee (CALODI). Lola Kalder, CityNews: If Monday’s numbers are among the highest in the last 20 years, what type of challenges would you expect to see with such increases and why are the numbers so high?Lily Martin, Community Organizer for CALODI: “Yeah. I mean, the challenges are challenges that we’re already seeing, which is essentially that people cannot pay their rent. The reality is that rents are and have been increasing at rates that are significantly higher than we’re seeing. So, there are going to be more people that are pushed out of their apartments and that are on the street because they are no longer able to keep up with these rent increases — many of which are legal, according to the government regulations. We don’t have the exact percentage for this year, we’re estimating that it’s going to be slightly lower than last year’s 5.9 per cent, which was historic. But it’s still going to be probably higher than what we had been seeing over the decades, which was percentages hovering around one to two per cent.
“And the reality is that as long as our rent fixing system is tied to inflation rates and tied to the housing market, we’re going to stay in this inflationary spiral and we’re going to see rent increases that are not realistic or affordable for tenants. We’re already in a situation where the rents are so inflated that even one to two per cent increase would be difficult for many people to stomach. The other problem with the new regulation is that the percentage of capital expenditures that are allowed to be passed on to tenants is five per cent, which is the highest we’ve ever seen. And it also introduces this idea of an amortization period. So essentially, tenants are now being made to pay for anything for minor repairs, such as painting. And landlords are reaping the benefit.”
Lola Kalder, CityNews: What do you want to see from the government — what can be done to ease the pain on renters?
Lily Martin, Community Organizer for CALODI: “Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of things that we can think of. The first thing would be to repeal the current regulation and to implement a temporary rent freeze until a new method has been decided. And a method that’s going to be fair and that’s going to be realistic, based on the current housing crisis and the situation for renters. We would like the implementation of mandatory rent control. So right now, what we have is an optional system of rent regulation and the burden is on the tenant to inform themselves of this system, to refuse a rent increase if it is excessive. The process at the TAL is confusing. It is long. We have tenants that are waiting over a year to get an answer about their rent increase.“So we want mandatory rent control. We want the percentage of rent increase to be based on the real cost of running the building, rather than inflation rates and other market-based factors. We want there to be a maximum percentage, so that it’s clear for everyone what the standard is and we want landlords to have the obligation to go to the TAL and justify why they want to exceed that percentage. And finally, we want a mandatory public rent registry because a lot of these huge rent increases that we see are between two tenants.
“These are not legal but it’s very difficult to combat these rent increases. And then obviously we want to see the construction of social housing. We want to see the increase of rent subsidies, more money going into tenants’ pockets, and more social housing, so that we’re not relying on this fundamentally abusive system of private property and landlord ownership.”
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Lola Kalder, CityNews: Looking ahead, what advice would you give Montreal renters who may face such rent increases?
Lily Martin, Community Organizer for CALODI: “Yeah, it’s a hard question and the reality is we don’t have a ton of great advice. It’s hard to give advice to someone that is already cutting back on other costs, such as groceries and medication, in order to be able to keep up with their rent increases. I would say that the most important thing you can do is inform yourself of your rights because if your landlord is trying to increase your rent more than what is legally allowable, you do have a right to refuse it and to stay in your apartment. So that would be my piece of advice, it’s certainly not going to do much for people that are already struggling and that are unfortunately being faced with high rent increases that are deemed legal by our current system. But I would still say getting informed and getting organized is very important. Join a tenants union, join a tenants association, become a member of your local housing committee. We as tenants make up a significant population of the city of Montreal and of the demerged cities of the West Island. There is a power that we should have in order to hold our elected officials accountable and get organized so that we can improve our conditions.”
Lola Kalder, CityNews: Tell us about the workshop you’re holding Jan. 20.
Lily Martin, Community Organizer for CALODI: “So the workshop on Jan. 20 is going to be at the Pointe-Claire Public Library. It’s going to be in English from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. It’s the first in a series of nine workshops that we’re offering. And basically during these workshops, we’re going to go over what your rights are as a tenant, when you’re getting your lease renewal notice and faced with a rent increase.
“We’re going to explain the changes to the rent fixing method and help people understand the percentage estimates that are going to be released on Monday. We’ll talk about what the rent fixing process looks like at the TAL, answer questions and then hopefully equip people with the information and the tools they need to make an informed decision about their lease renewal.”
Note: The transcript was slightly edited for clarity.
