After the City of Montreal, the citizens of Trois-Rivières want to establish a register of leases

Following a Facebook post inviting the citizens of Trois-Rivières to participate in the municipal council meeting, “Several organizations of Trois-Rivières (Regroupement des organismes d’ÉPA de la Mauricie, InfoLogis Mauricie, COMSEP, BAIL-Mauricie and several others) are asking the City of Trois-Rivières to create a register of housing prices in Trois-Rivières.”

This project was not voted on at the council meeting of July 5, 2022. You can read the APQ’s reaction at the following link: https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2022/07/06/crise-du-logement-des-promoteurs-opposes-au-registre-des-loyers?fbclid=IwAR3UiPtsMtwMcGD-3LbRGUPJ_-8eJ9Sbpn2UwWUT98A8ASxcW4NYm_uu9gE

The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) has been expressing its opinion on the establishment of a lease register for years: “The APQ is against such a register.”

The establishment of a lease register is a constant demand from tenants’ associations but also from political parties such as Québec Solidaire (QS).

Despite the refusal by the provincial government to establish it, the various tenants’ associations still claim a lease register and we see more and more cities wanting to set up a register locally.

For the Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ), a lease register is simply useless. Tenants are already protected more than anywhere else in the world. Moreover, the provision that aims to maintain the price of a housing following the departure of the tenant must be abolished, quite simply. Protection is granted to the tenant in place, but in addition to this the tenant can ask that the rent be reduced to a lower price while he has freely negotiated and signed a contract, i.e., the lease! It is simply outrageous to trample on people’s freedom of contract in this way.
Supply and demand must govern this type of situation! If a dwelling is too expensive, it will not find a buyer and the price will be adjusted accordingly.

And who will have to bear the costs related to the administrative management of this registry? The taxpayers of course, who will see their tax bills increase and this increase will be reflected on the tenant’s rent increase.
This is exactly the opposite of the purpose sought by these lease register applications.

It is necessary to review the rental market as a whole: the costs of maintaining a real-estate stock, with regulations that date back more than 40 years, ...