Montreal launches Responsible Landlord to better protect tenants and the rental stock

In order to improve living conditions for tenants and reduce insalubrity in the city's rental housing stock, the City of Montreal presents Responsible Landlord, which is the result of extensive work carried out by the city in the area of housing maintenance and health.

Component 1 - Proactive, targeted detection of unhealthy conditions


The first component of Responsible Owner consists in intensifying preventive and targeted inspections. A set number of multi-tenant buildings will be proactively inspected each year for health issues. Priority will be given to buildings that have not been recently built or renovated, that are located in socio-economically vulnerable areas, or that have a history of complaints.


A pilot phase targeting some 90 buildings with 100 dwellings is being completed this spring, representing some 15,000 dwellings. Once this first phase is completed in 2024, the buildings inspected will be those with six or more units.

The aim of this approach is to improve the quality of life and living environment of Montrealers, by acting quickly in areas where there is a high degree of vulnerability. To encourage as many tenants as possible to lodge complaints and enforce their rights, the City of Montreal will also improve communications with the public by distributing pamphlets and resource cards during inspections, which will be carried out in the presence of community liaison officers (ALIS).

Component 2 - Stepping up the fight against insalubrity


To inform tenants and make landlords more accountable, inspection results will be made publicly available on the City of Montreal website, with a rating for each item inspected. For 2024, the City aims to:

• Reinforce the use of coercive tools at its disposal to encourage homeowners to carry out the required work;
• Renforcer l'utilisation d'outils coercitifs dont elle dispose pour inciter les propriétaires à réaliser les travaux requis ;
• Reduce the time required to resolve non-conformities and harmonize inspection practices.

Component 3 - Protecting tenants' rights through the Rent Register

With the aim of improving transparency in rental prices and protecting tenants from abusive increases, the city is granting $30,000 in funding to Vivre en Ville to support it in improving its Rental Registry tool. This digital tool already lists rents for some 20,000 units in Montreal, thanks to voluntary registration by the population. This financial contribution will make it possible to add some 2,500 listings to the Montreal Rent Register, and a "City of Montreal" section will be added to the analysis report. Awareness-raising tools informing people of the best use of the Register will be produced and communicated to the Montreal population, to rapidly increase tenant adherence to this crucial database for the protection of tenants' rights.
The city hopes that the tool will grow and continue to serve the needs of Montreal tenants, and that it will serve as the basis for the creation of a National Rent Registry.

"Montreal tenants represent the majority of people who live in Montreal. It's unacceptable that some of them should be held hostage in housing that is detrimental to their safety, health or quality of life due to negligence. With a greater number of inspections, a proactive approach by the City and public disclosure of building conditions, we're giving ourselves concrete means to speed up the process of bringing buildings up to standard and better protect tenants," declared Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.
"Responsible Landlords continues its goal of making landlords responsible for maintaining their homes properly. We are adding resources to ensure that they comply with these new provisions. And we're giving the public the means to contest rent increases that are too high, or increases deemed abusive, by consulting rent information online," emphasized Benoit Dorais, vice-president of the executive committee and responsible for housing, real estate strategy, property assessment and legal affairs.

"The Ville de Montréal's desire to systematize tools that protect landlords, tenants and the housing stock is entirely complementary to our efforts with regard to the Registre des loyers. Thanks to its leadership, the City is paving the way for a national roll-out of the solution, to the benefit of all citizens, by reducing bureaucracy and inefficiencies," added Adam Mongrain, Director - Housing at Vivre en Ville.

For more information on the Responsible Owner initiative, visit montreal.ca.