Montreal tenants rally in Parc-Ex to denounce abusive rent hikes

March 31 is the deadline for many landlords to send rent increase notices. At Parc-Extension, some tenants say those increases are anything but reasonable.

Tenants gathered outside 955 Avenue d’Anvers alongside community groups on Tuesday to denounce what they call abusive rent increases. In this 18‑building complex, some tenants are seeing rent hikes of up to $150 a month —representing nearly 20 per cent in some cases— with no renovations to justify the increase.

That’s well above the 3.1 per cent guideline set this year by Quebec’s housing tribunal.

“It’s very tight, the budget,” said Ali Muhammad Kamruzzaman who has lived for 28 years in an apartment one block away, on boulevard de l’Acadie. “We’re a middle‑class family. We’re not rich, so an extra $150 is just too much for us.”

Organizers say this building reflects a broader reality faced by thousands of tenants across Quebec every year.

“One of the things we see really worries us is that a lot of landlords take advantage of the situation to go above and beyond and to ask whatever they want. That’s very much the case in the buildings that we’re rallying with today,” said Amy Darwish, coordinator of the Comité d’action de Parc‑Extension.

Tenants have one month to respond after receiving a rent increase notice. Organizers stress that renters do have options when they believe that increase is abusive.

“The first thing is to contact their housing committee of their neighborhood, and then they can calculate the rent increase together, or at least to have an estimate of what is the right amount that should be on the rent increase,” said Noémie Beauvais, community organizer for RCLALQ.

“Most of all, what we would encourage people to do is to talk to their neighbours. Often if one person’s getting an abusive rent increase, the entire building’s receiving an abusive rent increase. And tenants are much stronger when they fight together. We see that with the buildings here today. Tenants have a much stronger bargaining power,” added Darwish.

Community groups, including the RCLALQ and the Comité d’action de Parc-Extension, say more needs to be done to better protect tenants, especially as the cost of living continues to rise.

“There needs to be universal compulsory rent control with a ceiling on how much that can be asked. We also think there needs to be a rent freeze that’s immediately put in place because many people already can’t pay the increases that they received last year,” added Darwish.

This demonstration is part of a province-wide campaign against rent hikes, with similar actions held in Quebec City and Granby.