Moving day means big rent jumps for many Montrealers

Montreal Gazette

3 days ago

By Jason Magder
Carlos Quan, his wife and their two grown children bid farewell to their home of 17 years in Villeray on Tuesday.
They moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Montreal North, which at $1,400 per month will cost double what they are currently paying.
'The landlord here took over the building to do renovations, and he started already,' said Quan, who hails from Guatemala. 'For my family, it's hard to leave here. This is where we moved when we first came to Canada.'
Quan was among roughly 100,000 Montrealers who changed homes around July 1, Quebec's unofficial moving day. This year, rents have increased by a record amount over the previous year at around 5.9 per cent.
Most people who spoke to a reporter on Tuesday said they would be feeling the pinch of sharp rent increases.
'We're very disappointed,' said Steve, who didn't want his last name to be published. 'We'll be paying $800 more per month.'
Steve said his landlord repossessed the apartment where he, his wife and his four-year-old daughter were living for the last six years. They will be moving to another place just about 400 metres away.
'We're going to tighten our belts; we'll stop eating and we're not going to be travelling for the next 10 years,' he said.
Céline Camus, community organizer with the Villeray Housing Committee, was cycling through the neighbourhood to see if anyone needed help, or if there were illicit evictions.
'We met a woman who was paying $1,250 per month, when the previous tenant was paying $800,' Camus said. 'Some landlord groups on Facebook are talking together to make sure that the rents reach a certain price in this neighbourhood, so it's not a free market.'
She said this year's sharp increases have taken a toll on renters. But illicit or unethical landlord behaviour also plays a part.
Camus added that tenants often don't want to challenge steep increases in their rents at the TAL — the province's rental board — because they don't want to earn a bad reputation for future landlords who may refuse to rent to them. Complaints to the TAL are listed publicly.
Yourri Alcindor moved Tuesday to Villeray, because he found a one-bedroom apartment that cost roughly $300 less per month than what he was paying in Plateau-Mont-Royal.
'I've been in Quebec only three years, and since that time I know rents have gone crazy,' Alcindor said. 'It's a big moving day, but it's going rather smoothly. The truck is double the price today than usual, but there aren't a lot of cars on the road, I found friends to help me and found a good parking spot.'
Roughly 900 households aren't able to find a new place they can afford as of July 1. The City of Montreal's housing office helps to find them temporary apartments, or hotel rooms until they can find something permanent. Anyone who needs the city's help is urged to call the 311 hotline.