Bill 492 on dwelling repossession: The Liberal Government disregards the rights of property owners

Quebec – CORPIQ deems unacceptable the Couillard Government’s decision to attack the historic ownership right by prohibiting landlords from using their own dwelling when the tenant is elderly.

The government made a political miscalculation which, ultimately, will harm senior citizens themselves. CORPIQ is convinced that it will now be harder for them to find housing. Indeed, CORPIQ detects a serious threat in the amendment of bill 492, which makes all aging tenants, until now considered valued customers, undesirable.

Hans Brouillette, CORPIQ’s public affairs director, in attendance at the National Assembly held today, declared that «the fact that landlords can no longer accommodate their own families in their own property is unacceptable. This will breed some serious social and economic consequences but the Liberal government seems to only have their own interests in mind. The gradual demise of small rental properties will now accelerate, since the fundamental rights of the majority of owners are trampled. »

CORPIQ is looking into examining legal options since these government actions violate the historical right of ownership as well as the right to dispose of one’s own property.

CORPIQ’s spokesman stated that «Bill 492 is not intended to protect the rights of older tenants, as its misleading title claims. It rather grants new rights to certain people, by withdrawing the rights of others – in this case, small property owners – who have saved, invested and taken risks in order to provide shelter for their immediate family. Thus, a property owner is separated from his relatives and forced to accommodate a stranger in his own building. How can you tell a landlord he cannot house their own child in their building, if he himself is not 70 years old? »

CORPIQ asserts that it is not the duty of a certain category of taxpayers under the pretext of providing an essential good such as housing, to personally and individually meet the needs of elderly or low-income tenants. Housing assistance is up to the government, through the Société d’Habitation du Québec and the programs and groups they subsidise.

CORPIQ suggested that senior tenants may be given priority for social housing in the event of repossession; an idea that had been welcomed at the time by the Minister, since it would truly meet the needs of the elderly.

Not to mention that a Léger poll conducted in September 2015 revealed that two-thirds of Quebecers would be in agreement for an owner to repossess a tenant’s dwelling in order to accommodate their family, whatever their social condition might be. 

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