Many owners have residences in Quebec and in Ontario

Many owners have residences in the two provinces and notice rather quickly that Quebec laws are more strict than the Ontarian obligations.

It is the case of Mr Armand Bédirian, real-estate agent, who began in real estate while investing in  rental residences in Ontario, then he purchased the building of his parents in Montreal. Mr Bédirian notices that it is easier to manage residences in Ontario because Ontarian law requests much less information and procedures to be followed. For example, during the increase in the rent the owner can increase up to the authorized rate without the tenant being able to refuse. And this rate is all-encompassing, regardless of the type of heating and who deals with the heating expenses in the dwelling. If the tenant is in disagreement with the increase, the latter will have no alternative other than to leave his dwelling at the end of the lease.

Mr Bédirian saw himself being refused re-possession of one of his residences in Montreal four times for his son whereas in Ontario a simple letter to the tenant would have been enough for a building of three apartments and less. The first time that his request was rejected, the reason was that it had not indicated the name of his son. Indeed, he had only registered that he took the dwelling again for his son, without specifying which one of his sons, as he has three of them! The second time it was because the notice had not been sent correctly.

In the same order of ideas, Ontario makes it possible to the owners to reset the residences at market prices at the time of departure of the tenant. Mr Bédirian had good tenants and only sent increases to them at the given rate each year. At the time of their departure, the rent was 540 $. The apartment was re-rented at 1.250 $ per month. He simply followed the law.

Also, Mr Bédirian has a certain margin of safety thanks to the guarantee deposit the tenants give to him before taking possession of the housing and which will be useful to him in the event of a problem of non-payment. Currently, he has a tenant who has left the housing for 2 months. He has just received a leaving notice of 60 days. This safety margin enables him to save at least one month of rent if she decides not to pay it. In the case of an abandonment, this deposit will enable him to limit his losses and the expenses inherent to the re-letting.