Bill 65: 3 -Year Moratorium and Protection of Seniors

Bill 65, An Act to limit the landlords' right to evict and strengthen the protection of senior tenants, came into force on June 6th 2024.

Despite the recommendations of the Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ), this bill will reduce the right of rental housing owners to repossess a housing with senior tenants and imposes a moratorium of three (3) years on landlords of a dwelling to evict the tenant to subdivide the dwelling, substantially expand it or change its use.

Section before the change :
“1959.1. A landlord may not repossess a dwelling or evict a tenant from it if the tenant or his or her spouse, at the time of the repossession or eviction, is 70 years of age or older, has occupied the dwelling for at least 10 years and has an income equal to or less than the maximum income that would allow him or her to be eligible for low-rent housing under the Regulation respecting the allocation of low-rent housing (chapter S-8, r. 1). However, the claimant may repossess the dwelling in one of the following situations: (1) he or she is himself or herself 70 years of age or older and wishes to repossess the dwelling in order to live there; (2) the beneficiary of the takeover is 70 years of age or older; (3) he is an owner-occupier aged 70 or over and wishes to give shelter, in the same building as him, a beneficiary who is under 70 years of age. The Société d'habitation du Québec publishes on its website the maximum income thresholds that allow a tenant to qualify for low-rent housing."

From now on, section 1959.1 of the Civil Code benefits persons aged 65 and over whose income does not exceed 125% of the income required to qualify for low-income housing.

You can read the APQ's recommendations at the following link: https://www.apq.org/medias/revendications-recentes/

To summarize, the APQ is of the opinion that the current law is therefore more than sufficient to protect the rental stock from ill-intentioned evictions. The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) thinks that the number of requests submitted for repossession of housing represents only a small number of units in the current rental stock. According to the annual report of the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), housing repossessions represent only 2693 files in 2022-2023.

It should also be noted that an eviction to subdivide a dwelling will result in the creation of additional housing; preventing it is contrary to the interests of the population.

Let us not forget that the right to repossess housing and eviction for certain projects are components of the right to property and cannot be annihilated, even temporarily, or for a specific category of people. In the current state of the law, it is essential that the repossession of housing or eviction can continue to be exercised as planned.
We will monitor the impact of this moratorium and the lowering of the age for a repossession of housing in the coming months.