Montreal Budget 2026: New Year, Same Challenges — Landlords Remain Tax Collectors
Montreal, January 12, 2026 — The City of Montreal's 2026 budget announcement confirms another increase in municipal taxes. This directly affects all landlords since, as a reminder, these increases are fully transferable to tenants, despite the new rent control bylaw coming into effect on January 1, 2026.
The APQ (Quebec Landlords Association) adds that another tax increase, on top of those of recent years, has become impossible to absorb given the already extremely limited financial flexibility of landlords.
Landlords: An Unwitting Intermediary
Taxes are included in the rent. Landlords are simply acting as intermediaries between the City and tenants, an unintentional situation.
“Knowing that landlords will inevitably have to raise rents to absorb the increase in their property taxes, they will once again be singled out and judged, even though they are simply acting as collectors of the increase imposed by the City,” Mr. Messier concluded.
An average increase of 3.4%: A significant portion of rent increases
With an average tax increase of 3.4%, a significant portion of upcoming rent increases will stem directly from this tax burden. As long as taxes remain included in rent calculations, landlords will, in effect, remain the collectors of municipal taxes.
An unavoidable question
Can we really ask landlords to limit their rent increases to the inflation rate when their property taxes are rising faster than inflation?
Municipalities, like landlords, are feeling the pressure of inflation, wage increases, and rising construction and renovation costs. They must finance their commitments, just as owners must bear their own expenses.