Montreal Organizations Concerned About Responsible Landlord Certification and Rent Registry

The City of Montreal is hosting consultations on the landlord registry. The registry was proposed in Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante's bid for re-ekection in the fall of 2021.

The registry intends to hold landlords accountable through requiring them to register their properties online in a public record every 5 years. Landlords will have to disclose rent prices, vacancy, proof of inspections, if the building is up to code, if it’s free of vermin, and if they have taken care of any essential repairs or repairs that need to be completed.

But landlords owning buildings of 8 units or more will only be required to do so. Properties with 8 units or more account for approximately 35% of the city’s rental market, meaning around 65% of rental units will not be documented on this public record.

The City has been holding consultations to hear public and community input on the registry and some of Montreal's community organizations are concerned. 

Comite D'action de Parc-Extension (CAPE), which represents renters in the neighbourhood of Parc-Extension said many evictions and unsanitary issues are occurring in the neighbourhood. Organizers Emanuel Gay, Amy Darwish and Andre Trepanier attended the consultation to represent CAPE.

The organization said that 144 tenants contacted CAPE between August 2020 and 2022 because they were facing a potential eviction.

CAPE voiced concerns, including the issue of gentrification due to abandonment and both renovictions and evictions being on the rise. CAPE representatives said tenants are often kicked out by inspectors from a unit – while under renovation – to avoid danger. But often those units become empty or abandoned. 

Considering the certification, they asked if it will allow the city and boroughs to work more actively on the issues of sanitation to avoid situations where the deterioration of the buildings become irreversible, and no longer fit to live.

They said measures proposed for the certification are very minimal and do not respond to the challenges of all the present units and buildings in Montreal, and specifically, Parc-Extension. They brought up how only 35% of housing units will be represented within the registry. They said smaller units in Parc-Extension account for 54% of rental units in the neighbourhood.

Regroupement des Comités Logement et Association de Locataires du Quebec (RCLAQ) was also in attendance, represented by organizer Martin Blanchard.

Similar to CAPE, Blanchard also voiced concerns in how only units of 8 or more will be represented in the registry. He said this means that only the minority of the problems will be considered.

He said that the registry does not address renovictions, as during renovictions, renovations are often not completed and that the certification does not solve the problem at its core.