Against Bill 31
Bill 31 is still under review. There’s still time for the minister and the government to back down. But to do so, we need to express our dissatisfaction with PL31 in large numbers.
If you agree with the demands below, you can write to Housing Minister France-Élaine Duranceau, Premier Legault and all the members of the parliamentary commission studying Bill 31.
To send a pre-written e-mail to the Minister, Premier and Commission members, click on this template designed by RCLALQ (in French).
Bill 31 is a no-go !
On June 9, Quebec’s Minister of Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau,
introduced Bill 31 (PL31). In the midst of a housing crisis, when rents are skyrocketing, fraudulent evictions are multiplying and discrimination in access to housing is omnipresent, PL31 is a real insult to Quebec tenants.
Not only does Bill 31 fail to offer any overarching measures to counter the effects of the housing crisis, to limit inequalities between tenants and landlords, to counter abusive rent increases or to reinforce tenants’ right to maintain occupancy, it actually exacerbates the already existing imbalance between tenants and landlords.
By attacking the right to assign leases, the bill encourages discriminatory practices by landlords and further fuels soaring rent prices. By raising the amount of compensation for evictions, the bill normalizes the fraudulent evictions that have become commonplace in Quebec. By allowing landlord companies to be represented by representatives at the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), an alternative not available to tenants of modest means, the bill reinforces the current imbalance in the access to justice.
The Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) is calling for an overhaul of PL31 to include vigorous measures that would relieve Quebec tenants of the financial burden that is weighing them down. We ask for :
• preserving the right to assign leases by abandoning article 7 of PL31;
• the introduction of mandatory rent control, including rent caps and a rent register;
• a ban on evictions for expansion, subdivisions, changes of use and on repossessions when the vacancy rate of tenant units is less than 3%;
• mandatory monitoring of any repossession or eviction when vacancy rates are low and compulsory follow-up to prove that the project leading to repossession or eviction has actually been carried out;
• sections 29 and 30 of PL31, which unjustifiably repeal sections 72 and 74 of the Loi sur le Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), to be dropped, and, to remedy the difficulties of access to justice at the TAL, that individuals be given the option of being represented free of charge by a person working in a legal non-profit organization.
To learn more about this issue, we invite you to consult FRAPRU’s brief on Bill 31 (in French).
