Montreal, April 20, 2022 --- The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) is calling on the Government to redress the injustices that persist against rental housing owners in Quebec.
“Rental housing owners have not secured any legislative changes to help them manage their tenants or reduce their financial losses. We can start by talking about the security deposit that is still not authorized and yet would have allowed several owners not to find ransacked or unhealthy housing!” says Martin Messier, President of the APQ.
The tenants’ associations are calling for a lease register to limit rent increases and thus control the rental market, but the opposite phenomenon would occur with a lease register. The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) believes that such a register is completely inadequate and would not resolve the situation stated.
We must allow the market to regulate itself, without a rent control which is even more restrictive than the one imposed in Québec.
The real problem is the imposition and maintenance of clause G and an outdated method of setting rents.
“We seem to forget that the price of rents is already protected, too much according to the owners: the tenants only have to say “I refuse the increase and I stay in my dwelling.” The landlord will then, if he wants to increase the price of the rent, submit a request to the Administrative Housing Tribunal, do the calculations, take a day off to appear before the Tribunal and go submit the evidence of his expenses,” added Martin Messier.
“We must stop mixing a tenant’s ability to pay, with the price of the rent paid. Rental property owners also have building-related expenses 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 indebtedness of landlords, the stress of compliance with regulatory and government obligations?” says Martin Messier, president of the APQ.
When will there be subsidies to support all tenants who need them with housing assistance, since it is not up to the owners of rental housing to financially support tenants?
Rental housing owners are also demanding subsidies to maintain the aging rental stock. Landlords cannot rely on the current rent-setting method that does not support the rental market: How to renovate with $1.67 for every $1,000.00 spent on major work?
To conclude, the Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) reminds us that to stimulate the residential rental market it is necessary to help owners to properly maintain their buildings, which includes a more reasonable rate of increase of rent or subsidies.