When a judgment of the Régie du logement condemns the tenant to pay the landlord unpaid rent or damages with interest it is important to know that it is now up to the owner to enforce execution of the judgment in order to get the money from the tenant. Obtaining the amounts awarded by the court is generally done in two ways: one which is called “voluntary,” the other by implementing the so-called “forced” way. We will first discuss voluntary compliance.
Voluntary execution
Following the judgment and after the expiration of the timeframes specified by the Tribunal at the conclusion of the judgment the landlord may address himself to the tenant to admonish the latter to pay him the amounts awarded by the court, that is the principal, the interest at the legal rate and the additional indemnity provided for in Section 1619 of the Civil Code of Quebec, as well as the court costs.
This is usually done by the fact of sending a notice to the former tenant to pay the amount awarded within a timeframe which it will stipulate. This step may present some difficulties for the owner, especially when he is not aware of the new address of the tenant who has either cleared out, or left the apartment after the judgment, or who has been expelled from the housing. Where then send the notice? The solution then would be to track the tenant in order to know his new address.
When the former tenant receives the notice sent by the landlord he may choose to voluntarily pay the amounts due, either in one payment, or, if the landlord agrees, in installments. However, it is rare for former tenants to act in such a way, and in most cases the landlord’s requests will be met with an outright refusal or silence from the previous tenant. In some cases, the landlord and the former tenant will agree that the latter pays in installments. Again, here also, verbal agreements are to be avoided and any agreement between the parties should be recorded in a payment agreement. This must be written with care and precision in order to adequately protect the interests of the parties, both those of the former tenant who respects the agreement, and those of the landlord when there is a failure on the part of the former tenant.
However, the notice sent by counsel for the landlord, who is a legal professional and who will use the right terms, will possibly be taken more seriously by the former tenant, which may cause him to want to pay the amount of the award, or enter into an installment payment agreement with the lawyer.
The role of the lawyer will be to ensure that all of the money to which the landlord is entitled under the judgment is claimed from the former tenant, which implies the calculation of statutory interest at the legal rate and the additional indemnity on capital. Moreover, when a payment arrangement is possible with the former tenant, the landlord’s lawyer will indicate in the written agreement the stipulations necessary to protect the remedies and rights of his client in the event of non-compliance with the agreement by the former tenant. We can think of the judicial enforcement action called “forced” which will be discussed in a future article.
For questions on real-estate law, as well as on the enforcement of judgments, do not hesitate to contact our team of legal experts in the field.