Tenants' rights groups are sounding the alarm about the growing trend of apartment evictions and repossessions at a time when the vacancy rate is dipping, Air BnB hosts are proliferating and the Montreal housing market is heating up.
Groups such as the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) and the Comité d'action de Parc-Extension say now is the time when evictions and repossessions are more prolific as notices are sent out for leases that end in July, claiming many landlords are using them as a pretext to raise rents and maximize their profits.
Every year, about 14,000 demands are made by landlords in Quebec.
The groups say data from this past year show that out of a sampling of nearly 140 requests for repossessions and evictions, 60% of tenants had been living in their apartment for at least ten years and 38% of them were there for more than 15 years.
The data also suggests that most tenants were paying about $720 in monthly rent, $40 less than the average according to stats from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The groups also found that new property owners were behind the evictions.
Tenants speak out about how their landlords have been trying to - and in some cases succeeded -repossess the apartments and evict them so they can hike the rent. Tenants’ rights groups say it’s more worriesome now as vacancy rates dip and housing market heats up. #CJAD800 pic.twitter.com/ritVFdoGpX
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) December 13, 2018
Single mother Mary Antico said she is fighting a second attempt in two years by her new landlord to get her out of her Parc Extension apartment where she's lived for five years with her two young sons.
"It's a case of gentrification," Antico told a news conference.
"It just appears to be people with means that have discovered Parc Ex which of course now people are calling the new Plateau. Of course, this is great for the economy but it's a disaster for my family."
Maxine Hannah, an artist living with a disability, said she was evicted from her apartment in Parc Ex in August after living there for 2 1/2 years - she said her landlord claimed he wanted the apartment back for family reasons.
Hannah alleges her landlord never fixed anything and made her move difficult. She is fighting to get compensation for the last month she was there.
"This is a company. Rentals are companies. If this was any other company, they would have been investigated or shut down," said Hannah.
The tenants' rights groups are calling on the Quebec government for tougher rules to make such apartment repossessions and evictions more difficult and to increase compensation for tenants in such situations.
Maxine Hannah was abruptly booted from her Parc Ex home of 2 1/2 years in August when her landlord reclaimed the apartment for family reasons. She is fighting to get that last month’s rent. #CJAD800 pic.twitter.com/k3Ix7yNjXM
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) December 13, 2018