Bermuda shorts: the judge cuts short at the hearing

A judge of the Régie du logement refused to hear a landlord's application for non-payment of rent on the grounds that he presented himself with short pants in court, which constituted "improper dress". The owner had been waiting for the hearing for a month when, to his amazement it was postponed by order of the judge to a later date.

The outside temperature was 31°C and the owner was wearing shorts and a polo shirt when he went to court in Montreal.

His tenant, who was absent from the hearing, owed him 1 month's rent and a balance of another month, as well as the applicable legal fees, for an amount of more than $1,000.

At the Régie du logement, one of the messages on the waiting room screens indicates that it is required to wear "appropriate clothing" in court. A poster to this effect is also posted in the courtrooms, obviously too late to get changed if that’s when you find-out. The interpretation of what constitutes proper dress is left to the discretion of the judge.

According to the Régie du logement's 2017-2018 annual report, the average cost of processing a request to the court is more than $250 for taxpayers. Nearly 30,000 applications of all types are awaiting a hearing. The short of it is, if we add the landlord’s wasted time and the unpaid rents, wearing a simple Bermuda short can, in the end, be costly.