Montreal, September 16, 2022 --- The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) is reacting to the demands of tenants’ advocacy organizations, the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) and the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ), which are calling for rent price control and a lease register.
The cost of rents is also affected by the rise in the cost of materials, inflation, or increases in municipal taxes.
“A lease register would be unnecessary and costly. There are already several mechanisms to control the price of rents, including clause G of the lease where the landlord must declare the lowest rent paid,” says Martin Messier, President of the APQ. Tenants in Quebec enjoy an abnormally high level of protection, which has the effect of discouraging some landlords and investors, and ultimately harming the tenants themselves,” according to the APQ.
Rather, the real question is: Why ask for a lease register when our neighbouring Province has abandoned its own? Because Ontario had a lease registry in place and the expenses were enormous: The cost of setting it up was estimated at $35 million.
The appropriate solution does not involve administrative additions in a context of labour shortage and expenses to be saved. The solution lies in additional rent assistance for people who need it.
If these organizations were to ask for rent subsidies for all tenants, that would indeed also support the tenants in the short term.