Certification and Registry: One More Step Towards a Reduction of the Housing Supply

Montreal, September 29, 2021 - CORPIQ is dismayed to see that Projet Montréal would dare to put forward an idea of a registry and a certification that will multiply the obstacles to housing rental. The perverse effects of such an approach are obvious: less renovation, increasingly obsolete housing and a displacement of supply outside Montreal. The problem of the metropolis is the absence of an abundant supply of private housing. However, creating further resistance on supply will accentuate the current problem.

Montreal landlords take exemplary care of their tenants by offering very low rent increases, year after year, when the occupant renews his lease. It is absolutely necessary to bring the rent back up to the market price when the tenant leaves the unit, otherwise the landlord would have no interest in renting because of insufficient income. "Setting up a lease registry is tantamount to making tenants believe that they will be able to trick the landlord into renting at a lower price than the one posted... it’s not only unwholesome, but also unacceptable as an idea," indicates Benoit Ste-Marie, Executive Director of CORPIQ. Without sufficient revenues, maintaining rental stock will be difficult. "The municipal administration knows very well that after years of generosity towards the tenant-occupant, landlords need to set the unit to its market price when it becomes available, it is a question of survival of the real estate stock," adds Benoit Ste-Marie.

The concept launched by Projet Montréal is comparable to interfering with the City of Montreal's real estate management, through a burden of measures that will have the effect of drastically reducing the maintenance and renovation of the real estate stock, which is already a victim of under-investment due to many constraints. According to Benoit Ste-Marie, "adding constraints will represent as many obstacles to renovation and we will gradually witness the obsolescence of the Montreal offer, making Montreal less and less attractive, both for investors and tenants."