Renting in Montreal

What to ask

Clarify what would be included in the rent versus what is your responsibility. Ask if major appliances are included, such as the refrigerator and stove, or if you will have to provide your own. 

Find out whether heat is included. If not, plan for extra winter costs. Check with Hydro Québec to see the approximate cost of your electricity bill. 

Ask about the unit's history with vermin, pests and damages.

For your safety, it's illegal for landlords to rent a unit that doesn't have a window. Confirm each bedroom has at least one outside window, or a sprinkler system, or a door leading directly outside, in compliance with building codes.  It's also important to make sure your landlord has equipped your apartment with a working smoke detector.

How to avoid scams

Luckily, there are many ways to lower the likelihood of getting caught in an apartment scam. Trust your gut and be critical when looking for an apartment. If something feels weird with the listing, if the application process is rushed or if the apartment seems too good to be true, it may be a scam.

Know that if you are unsure, you can ask someone at the Concordia Student Union's Off-Campus Housing and Job Resource Centre (HOJO) to look it over for you.

Given that many students will be looking for housing before travelling to Montreal, it’s understandable that you may not be able to tour apartments in person.  If possible, try to do a virtual visit. Video tours can be deceiving and sometimes you're shown a different unit than what you are signing up to rent. 

Red flags: things to watch for

1. The apartment is too good to be true: Whenever you see an apartment that seems too good to be true, it probably is. An apartment that is very cheap for the size or area is a red flag.
2. You are asked to send money before signing a lease or visiting the apartment (virtually or physically).
3. You are asked to pay with online coupons, money transfer, cryptocurrency or other untraceable methods of payment.
4. The landlord is too eager or pushy: This can be suspicious. They might claim that there is a lot of interest in the apartment to pressure you into an agreement.
5. Asking for too much information.
6. Requiring a deposit of more than the first month of rent when signing the lease — in Quebec, any kind of deposit is illegal.
7. Refusing to sign a lease: If a landlord wants you to pay rent or any other fee without signing a lease, it might be because they don’t have a legal right to rent out that apartment, or it doesn’t exist.
8. The landlord is “out of the country”: A common rental scam is a ‘landlord’ who claims they’re out of the country. Scammers may even pretend to be an agent for a real estate company or a management company acting on behalf of a landlord who’s out of the country. To verify that the person behind the listing is the landlord, do your own background check on the municipal directory of property owners or do a Google search on the management company to see if they’re trustworthy.

Good practices

• Ask a friend or family member to look over the listing with you. A second pair of eyes is always helpful when looking for signs of a scam.
• Use the Google images reverse search function to see if the photos have been posted before. Apartment rental scams often copy listings from other real listings, but change details or lower the price to lure in apartment hunters.
• Do your research on the building or management company. Be sure the person you’re speaking to is the landlord or their representative, and you can find out who owns the building through the municipal directory of property owners.
• Always sign a lease. As a tenant, it’s your right to have an official Quebec lease drawn up in either French or English, the language of your choice.
• Never send money before signing a lease. When paying rent, always make sure to get a rental receipt as proof of payment.

Signing a lease

If you submit an application for a rental, you are legally bound to sign a lease if your application is accepted. It’s not a good idea to send out multiple applications at the same time. A useful trick is to make your application valid only for a certain time frame, say 48 hours. (You can make a note of this on the application, and inform the landlord when you’re communicating with them.) That way, if you don’t hear back from the landlord within a short period of time, you can keep looking.

Never assume that by communicating with a landlord over text or Messenger, you are making an official agreement about a lease. Until you sign a lease, you are under no obligation to commit to an agreement, and neither is the landlord.

Sometimes landlords request money at the time of the application. Be aware that there’s no guarantee that an application fee will either be refunded, or will be credited toward your rent. Send a landlord money online at your own risk.

Be sure the lease you sign is one mandated by the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), which is the required lease document in Quebec. If needed, you can purchase a Lease of a Dwelling from Les Publications du Québec.

Make sure all your responsibilities as a tenant are clear and that anything included in the agreement is written in the lease. The landlord will often add an appendix and/or list of building regulations. Make sure you read this through carefully.

Deposits

Deposits for more than the first month’s rent are not permitted in Quebec; a landlord cannot ask you for anything more than the first month's rent.

Landlords cannot ask you for your social insurance number, student visa, credit card, or photocopy any of your personal information, though they can verify your name and address with a piece of photo ID.

Rent increases

Quebec has a rent control system, which is unique in Canada. What does rent control mean for tenants? Your landlord can only legally increase your rent by a certain percentage per year, as determined every year by the Quebec government. In other words, you should not be paying more than a small percentage more than the previous tenants of any apartment.

On the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) lease (the only legally binding lease document in Quebec), be sure to check “section G,” where the landlord is required to write the lowest rent paid for their rental in the last 12 months. The rent you are being charged can only be a government-approved percentage more than the amount in section G. If a landlord has left section G blank in the lease, you can ask them to provide that information and they are required by law to do so.

If the amount in Section G is much lower than what you are being charged, you have 10 days after the section is filled out to request a hearing with Quebec’s rental authority, the Tribunal administratif du logement. By requesting a hearing (which you can do online), you are starting the process of potentially lowering your rent back down to the legally approved level.

Rent control is in place to defend your rights as a tenant, but it’s up to you to make sure your landlord is complying with the rules.

Lease transfers

When you move out, you can pass your lease on to a friend (called a lease transfer, or transfer de bail), without the rent increasing beyond a government-approved percentage, usually between one and three per cent. You always need to ask your landlord’s permission in writing before assigning a lease transfer to a friend.

Remember that within a landlord-tenant dispute, Concordia University will never get involved. A landlord cannot report a tenant to Canada customs, nor to the university, for a matter having to do with housing. They can call the police for matters to do with creating a disturbance or any criminal activity, but anything related to utilities or apartment maintenance is not a police matter.