Another year has gone by. We already have started the year 2009 and, according to tradition, some among us would like to make a few good resolutions. Being an owner of residential rental dwellings, it is good to make an assessment of our investments and to make certain decisions for the year that is coming.
At the Quebec Landlords Association we invite you first of all to expedite your notices of modification of the lease as soon as possible in order to quickly know the intentions of your tenants, so that in case departures would be announced, you could benefit of a more active recruitment period of prospective tenants. For an annual 12-month lease terminating on the 30th of June, it is not superfluous to remind you that it is imperative to expedite or deliver your notices of changes to the lease before the 31st of March 2009. It is also important to remember that you should absolutely bring a modification to your lease for your notice to be recognized and in order to obtain an answer from your tenant within one month at the very latest. In order to avoid all problems you should use the document which we have prepared for this purpose and which is available on our Website.
We invite you to adjust your rental rates for 2009 by giving particular attention to the market in your sector. It is important to bring adjustments of an increasing nature when warranted, because your rental rates directly affect the value of your dwelling, and in case of financing or of refinancing of your mortgage, that can make a big difference indeed. I invite you to participate in the several conferences we organize in January in many cities of Quebec (please consult the list on page 11).
We can never insist enough in inviting you to provide an excellent service to your tenants, to make good management moves, to see to it that you maintain your dwellings well, even if we have to deal with the Rental Board and its method of rent-setting whereas these rental rates should be subject to serious review. More in particular, this method should be modified in order to provide better rent increases in cases when major works are more and more called for in our dwellings in Quebec because many of them are more than thirty years old.
Residential real estate still remains a good choice for our investments and, even if one talks of a certain slowdown, it is a fact that the year 2009 will turn out as we have planned it. I would like to wish you, personally and in the name of all the personnel of the APQ, an excellent year 2009, with Good Health in particular, and lots of Happiness and Prosperity !