Tenants group calls for freeze on rent increases

Costs `out of reach' for many, organization says

An association representing tenants and housing committees is calling on the Quebec government to ban rent increases in 2021.

The Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) believes Quebec Housing Minister Andrée Laforest must impose the ban quickly to provide relief to those affected by the housing shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic.

RCLALQ says a study it conducted found that average rent for a 4½-room apartment in Quebec is $1,032 while the average for a 6½ is $1,300.

Maxime Roy-allard, a RCLALQ spokesperson, said those costs were out of reach for low-income families, particularly as many of those families have seen their revenue drop over the past few months.

The organization notes that the real-estate market has not slowed down during the pandemic, with bidding wars in some sectors. RCLALQ argues that the more buildings cost, the more their owners will quickly try to increase their rents.

Roy-allard said there has been over the past few years an increase in the number of cases where new owners are seeking to evict longtime tenants. Judging the existing rents too low, Roy-allard said the owners then impose abusive rent increases on the vacated apartments, a practice a rent freeze would make impossible, according to RCLALQ.

While an index of estimated rent increases will soon be published by the province's Tribunal administratif du logement, landlords are not obliged to abide by it, Roy-allard said, adding that an abusive rent increase remains legal if not challenged by a tenant.

Such challenges are rare, according to Roy-allard, either because tenants are unaware of their rights or fear reprisals from their landlords. A freeze on rent increases would bring those situations to a halt, he said.