Insufficient criteria for rent setting
In cases of dispute over rent increases in 2016, the Régie du logement believes that landlords should be entitled to a rent increase, excluding heat, for 0.4%, before property taxes. For major renovations, the average rate is 2.5% of the cost of the work, which would be amortized over 40 years. Both of these percentages are record amounts, as the housing authority has never had such low rates. The situation has been deteriorating for decades.
CORPIQ recommended to the Quebec Government several solutions to modernize the Regulation respecting the criteria for the fixing of rent, which, in its current form, makes it impossible for rental buildings to remain profitable. Improving this regulation would encourage investment into renovating aging housing stock, stimulate the economy, create jobs and general $1 billion in tax revenue over three years for the province.
In 2015, CORPIQ submitted a formal request to this end to the Regulatory and Administrative Streamlining Committee on this issue in 2015. The government’s intentions will be made public in 2016.