A tenant who sublet without permission sees her lease terminated

While short-term sublease is on everyone’s lips with the success of such sites as Airbnb, a recent decision of the Régie du logement vindicated a property owner facing a similar situation. In this story, the owner requested the termination of the lease because the tenant sublet the rooms in the dwelling for more than 12 months without her consent. The tenant, on the other hand, disputed the termination and requested a refund of extermination fees, as well as $1,500 for moral damages.

The latter, who is often outside the city, posted online ads for the rooms in her apartment: the rent for one room includes furniture, internet service and basic food supplies. Therefore, for the next 2 years, Maxime, Mathieu, Amelie, Annabelle, Harry, Xavier, Marion and many more succeeded each other as sub-tenants in either of the rooms. The tenant denies the fact that subletting the room constitutes a commercial activity, although the amounts received from the subleases can reach $1,830 per month, stating that the apartment remained as her main residence.

When the unit got infested with bedbugs while the tenant was outside the city, the landlord sent her a notice of lease termination because she sublet for more than 12 months. The tenant argues that the landlord is retaliating following the bedbug episode since the subletting activities should have been known to the owner for a while, a fact the landlord denies. The latter rather claims that the sublease changed the purpose of the dwelling and inflicted damages on her and the other tenants residing in the building.

In the light of such elements, the court finds that «the requirement to send a notice of intent to sublease that includes all information set out in Article 1870 is a fundamental right for the landlord. In fact, the latter can still make a legitimate inquiry into the behavior and habits of payment of the proposed candidate. […] However, the tenant has failed to notify the landlord, thinking that it was not a sublet. »

In addition, the tenant has omitted to challenge the notice of the owner before the deadline, which was one month. As such, the tenant is deemed to have accepted the end of the lease.

In the end, the judge finds that the frequency and the high number of sub-tenants have caused the landlord twice the harm, firstly for being unable to perform her obligations knowingly, secondly the infestation of her unit with bedbugs. In light of this, the court terminates the lease and orders the expulsion of the tenant.