Montréal boroughs take advantage of the crisis to roll back homeowners' rights

Five boroughs of the City of Montreal are taking advantage of the health crisis to roll back the rights of homeowners.

On March 19 and April 6, the boroughs of Plateau Mont-Royal, Ville-Marie, Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie,Sud-Ouest, and Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, all administered by mayors from Projet Montréal party, which admits to be pro-tenant, adopted restriction measures. These measures were developed in a special borough council held behind closed doors and are aimed at restricting the enlargement and subdivision of existing housing units as well as the conversion of rooming houses into dwellings

The regulations adopted in a concerted manner by the boroughs differ slightly from one another, but globally aim to prohibit the conversion of a triplex into a single-family residence. It will also be prohibited to reduce the number of dwellings in a building of 3 or more dwellings. They also prohibit the conversion of rooming houses into dwellings. 

As required by the Act respecting land use planning and development, public consultations will be held at a later date, allowing citizens to be consulted before the by-law comes into force. Despite this, CORPIQ denounces the lack of transparency in the boroughs. Again, landlords are not informed in advance of the boroughs' regulatory intentions, as they do not seem to realize that these by-laws will have the impact of further harming tenants.

"By blocking the possibility of making large housing units for families, we are pushing them to live outside of Montreal," denounced the Director of Public Affairs of CORPIQ, Hans Brouillette. "In other cases, it may be necessary to sub-divide units to restore the profitability of a building that is no longer profitable, without which it becomes impossible to finance the renovations needed to preserve it.