Be prepared to deal with rent increases

What usually happens is this — tenants fear rent increases and want to refuse everything, while landlords say that the law unfairly stops a 'reasonable' rent increase.

What’s the truth, what can we expect, and what is fair?

To start with, here are the Top Ten rent increase realities:

1. The rent increases proposed by the Régie are suggestions.

2. These suggestions are not carved in stone. Each building can be different.

3. Rent increases can occur even if no work is done by a landlord. Other expenses legally exist.

4. A rent increase can be refused or accepted by a tenant (and then negotiated in good faith).

5. Landlord rent increase proofs will have to be shown in court (Régie).

6. Tenants can ask to see these bills, and thus truly negotiate a legal rent increase.

7. Landlords can use the Rent Calculation 2008 form available on the Internet.

8. Tenants can accept or refuse a proposed rent increase and stay in their apartment.

9. Landlords will get back all their legally reasonable expenses (at different rates).

10. It is actually possible to come to a legally fair landlord/tenant rent increase agreement.

Landlords must remember that they will be able to claim all of their reasonable expenses as a legal part of their rent increase every year. They need only to refer to documentation given out by the Régie every year www.rdl.gouv.qc.ca). There, the yearly form 'Calculation 2008' can be downloaded, reviewed and filled in online. Tenants can demand proof in any legal hearing. Landlords will have to comply.

Taxes, insurance, management costs, general maintenance, and major renovations all may contribute to any rent increase possibility, in any given year. The Calculation Form 2008 is there to help tenants and landlords calculate.

Energy costs do not remain static and will be a factor in most rent increases.

As in many things, specific cost increases are included in any rent increase on an amortized basis to cushion economic impact and spread it out on a monthly basis.

As in all legal affairs, specific legal delays and timelines must be followed. (Refer to your lease, Table B).

Here are some general reminders



1. A landlord must send the increase notice between three and six months before the end of a one-year lease.

2. A tenant has one month to respond to the increase notice. No answer means the tenant has accepted the landlords proposed rent increase and lease modifications.

3. The tenant has four choices: Accept the increase and renew the lease, refuse the increase and renew the lease, refuse the increase and move out, or accept or refuse any changes in conditions.

Less-than-honest landlords and rental agents freely choose to hide true legal options. They will write: Accept the rent increase and lease changes as written and stay, or do not accept rent increase and changes and move out. This is often a systematized abuse of the spirit of the law with the results that aged tenants, students from outside Quebec, immigrants and fearful tenants will simply accept a proposed rent increase and or changes, based on fear and ignorance of their legal rights.

It is to be emphasized that these increase guidelines are not carved in stone and that a bit of calculation is needed to arrive at an amount that actually follows the rules of the Régie. Nonetheless, even if guidelines are an annual occurrence, landlords and tenants may negotiate an agreeable rent increase between themselves.

Don't forget, more than 95 per cent of rent increases are decided without going to court.



• This is a general overview only. Please seek legal counsel or come and see us. Ted Wright is coordinator of Westmount Legal Clinic, every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Westmount YMCA, 4585 Sherbrooke St. W. Send questions to tedquestions@yahoo.ca or via fax to 514-277-8403, or mail to P.O. Box 48101, Montréal, Qc., H2V 4S8. Please provide a phone number to verify identity. Your name will not be published without your permission. Mr. Wright contributes to various media in Canada, both print and electronic. Should you wish personal, more extensive assistance, professional fees may apply. He may also be heard on the Know Your Rights legal show every Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on CINQ 102.3 FM. Podcasts of shows are available for one week after original airing at www.radiocentreville.com. Ted Wright is a regular contributor to CJAD 800 News on rental issues and can also be heard every so often on 940NEWS Montreal's legal affairs programme Sidebar with Dino Mazzone, every Friday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. on 940 AM.