Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau expects the passage of her Housing Bill 31 to help both owners and tenants. But how and when? Le Devoir tried to answer this.
Bill 31 “on amending various legislative provisions related to housing construction,” approved by a majority in the National Assembly on Wednesday, came into force on Wednesday afternoon after the approval of the Lieutenant Governor. The text of the law contains a number of measures that will quickly impact everyday landlord-tenant relationships.
Restrictions on transferring leases
This is undoubtedly the most controversial section of the bill. Once enacted, it will allow an owner to refuse to allow one tenant to transfer their lease to another. If he previously had to give a “serious reason” for rejecting a transfer, the landlord no longer has to do this. In the event of rejection, the rental agreement will be terminated at the scheduled time of handover.
Subletting or transferring a rental agreement “for a profit” is also prohibited. The restrictions on the transfer of the lease apply from the legal sanction.
Clause “G” and Clause “F”
With these articles, Minister Duranceau wants to offer tenants more transparency. Clause G of the rental agreement is little respected by the owners and contains the lowest rent paid in the last twelve months. From now on, a landlord who “knowingly fails To” must pay compensation.
When the Bill comes into force, the inclusion of Clause F will also be mandatory for buildings that are “newly constructed or have recently undergone a change of use”. This is the maximum rent that a landlord intends to charge over the next five years.
Protection against forced evictions
Although opposition groups continue to tell her that this will not be enough, the housing minister is convinced that the measures she is taking to protect tenants from evictions will bear fruit. After the other parties represented in the National Assembly refused to quickly pass the bill in December, she claimed that “every day that passes are evictions that could have been avoided.”
In practice, “Law 31” will offer tenants higher compensation. Currently, a person who is evicted from their home is entitled to the equivalent of three months' rent and reasonable moving expenses. With the passage of the CAQ Law, compensation must now be an amount equal to “one month’s rent for each rental year,” but may not exceed “24 months’ rent.” The minimum term of three months remains.
According to Ms. Duranceau, “Bill 31” also has the effect of “reversing the burden of proof” in eviction matters. While previously the tenant had to contest his eviction, the owner now has to justify his eviction decision before the Housing Administrative Court.
Adjustments to urban planning rules
These sections of the bill do not directly concern the relationship between landlord and tenant, but rather the powers of cities in housing matters. To speed up the construction of rental housing, the bill allows municipalities with more than 10,000 residents and a vacancy rate of less than 3%, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, to approve projects with three or more apartments on their territory, taking into account their urban planning regulations .
According to experts, this proposal has raised fears of “favoritism” and “corruption”, but Minister Duranceau maintains that all safeguards have been put in place. From the effective date of the law, a city may notify the department of its intention to use these new powers for a period of three years. Thereafter, this period may be extended by two years at the discretion of the responsible minister. Cities like Gatineau or Longueuil, for example, can take advantage of these legal provisions.
What the bill does not contain
In the eyes of opposition groups, Bill 31 is a “missed opportunity” to address the housing crisis. This is because in recent months Minister Duranceau has rejected several of her amendments to add provisions to the bill.
These include the creation of a national rent register, which would have made it possible to find out the most recently paid rents for each tenancy agreement, and the repeal of the provisions on the transfer of the tenancy agreement.
Despite the complaints of Québec Solidaire, who was accompanied last week by a father preparing to lose his home to a renovation in Shawinigan, the minister also rejected introducing a moratorium on renovations. “There is no alternative. That is the problem,” emphasized Jonathan Simard, who was preparing to be evicted from the apartment where his four young sons lived. “From the moment there is no alternative, It is as if we were alienating the tenant from his right to housing in a certain way. »
Despite proposals from the Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire, the “Françoise David law,” which protects vulnerable seniors from evictions, has not been extended to people aged 65 and over.
What they said
The government does not claim that this bill will solve the housing crisis. That would be completely unrealistic. Nevertheless, I think it contains some extremely useful tools that will allow us to address two pressing issues: increasing housing supply and restoring the balance between renters and homeowners.
Bill 31 is not only a poorly put together bill, but also a missed opportunity to address the housing crisis more profoundly. […] We have not added any protection. On the contrary: with the change in the transfer of leases, we have a bill that could worsen the crisis.
Unfortunately, despite promises that it is a bill that would solve a large number of very problematic situations in the rental sector, PL31 will fuel the housing crisis. It will fuel the furnace of real estate speculation that is impacting the rental sector across Quebec, not just in major centers.
We are told, “Well, we have to trust the local elected officials.” Yes, we have to trust all public administrations, but that is no reason why public administrations no longer have to follow the rules of the game. And that's exactly what we decided to do in this case.
What this law lacks most is real protection against increasing evictions, including evictions of older tenants.
Apart from the provision providing veto power over lease transfers, this really makes our working environment more complex.