Montrealers protest Bill 31, lease transfers; demand housing minister step down

Hundreds of tenants and housing advocates protested Quebec’s proposed housing legislation and its provision surrounding lease transfers in Montreal’s Rosemont–La-Petite-Patrie Saturday.

If adopted into law, Bill 31 would give owners the right to refuse a lease transfer without having to offer a valid reason.

Tenants’ rights advocates with RCLALQ, a coalition of housing committees and tenants’ associations in the province, organized the protest. They say Bill 31 is a direct attack on tenants.

“The distress of tenants is growing year after year,” said RCLALQ spokesperson Cédric Dussault. “It’s really on an unsustainable level because of the explosion of rents.

“It’s easy to evict tenants in order to raise the rents, and there is an incentive to evict the tenants in order to raise the rents. So we’re asking for the government to really address those big problems.

“Unless we do something about it really fast, the housing crisis will only worsen everywhere in Quebec.”

Protesters were also asking for mandatory rent control and for the resignation of the provincial housing minister, France-Elaine Duranceau.

“There’s a crisis and the government of Quebec has proven time and time again that they don’t listen to the tenants, they don’t listen to the organizations working for the rights of the tenants,” said Marco Monzon, a tenants’ rights advocate.

“Those who have lesser incomes, they’re affected because of the price hike… the availability of apartments is going down.”

Currently, landlords can’t refuse lease transfers unless they have a valid reason like proving the new tenant can’t afford the rent.

Under the proposed legislation, the government says if a homeowner refuses a lease transfer without a valid reason, they would cancel the lease, allowing the tenant to leave without paying penalties.

“There really is a terrible eviction rate in Montreal, but I think in other regions as well,” said protester Therese “And there are even villainous owners who are ready to set fires to some of the furniture so that there will be evictions… We find ourselves in a world that has no common sense.”

Opposition parties and housing advocates have been critical of the bill.

Other provisions of the bill include landlords paying evicted tenants the equivalent of one month’s rent for every year they’ve lived in the dwelling — for a maximum of two years.