Montreal, 2 December 2022 --- The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) must once again react to Québec Solidaire’s housing requests because these demands do not reflect the economic context of rental housing owners in addition to wanting to penalize all owners in order to punish only some.
“After the request for a rent freeze, and after modifying clause F, Québec Solidaire is now asking to cap all rent increases. But again this new proposal does not take into account the economic context experienced by rental housing owners. Québec Solidaire seems to forget that these owners also have expenses to assume, expenditures increased by inflation, by the price of materials...etc. Would the increase in municipal taxes in cities be unknown to them?” asks Martin Messier, President of the APQ.
Once again, these are changes requested by tenants which restrict the rights of Québec’s rental housing owners.
“The price of rent is already overregulated in Québec, as we live with outdated methods of calculating the rent which the government refuses to update, preferring to change from time to time regulations that are for the benefit of the tenants,” adds the APQ.
Landlords have to increase the rent!
“We must stop confounding a tenant’s ability to pay with the price of the rent paid. Rental housing owners also have expenses related to the building to assume, mortgages and taxes to pay, insurance and unpaid rents in some cases. We always talk about the financial capacity of the tenants, but who addresses the debt problems of the owners, the stress of compliance with regulatory and government obligations?,” says Martin Messier, President of the APQ.
Québec Solidaire justifies its request by indicating that “for many honest owners who already refer to the index of increase in the TAL, it will not change anything. But for speculators who circumvent the rules to skyrocket rents, it is going to be the end of the free-wheeling times.”
Québec Solidaire thus decided to penalize all rental housing owners who could not claim their entire increase by imposing a maximum rate for just a few recalcitrants.
The APQ reminds QS that the tenant can refuse the rent increase. The landlord must then pay the fees to open a file and justify the increase requested before the Administrative Housing Tribunal.
Even though 2023 will be the year with the highest rates of increase in decades, they will still be far from an acceptable return on investment.
The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) will oppose any bill that could go in this direction.