The Quebec government introduced a new method for calculating rent on Jan. 1. The new method relies on the average consumer price index (CPI) over the past three years to calculate rent, rather than landlords’ individual operating costs. As part of the new system, the government also introduced a fixed five per cent threshold to allow landlords to recover money spent on major operations. 

Under the prior system, rent increases were calculated based on a landlord’s expenses, such as maintenance, taxes, and insurance. Landlords had to justify these costs when proposing a rent increase. Tenants could request to see the calculation, and if they disagreed, dispute the increase with the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL). Under the new system, rent increases are calculated using a standardized formula tied to inflation, measured by the CPI, a government statistic that tracks changes in the costs of goods and services over time. 

The changes were implemented with the goal of making rent increases more transparent and predictable for tenants and landlords. However, tenant advocates have criticized the new rules as unfair to renters, as rent increases are now harder to challenge. Since the calculation no longer relies on itemized operating costs specific to each building, tenants have fewer concrete figures to dispute when challenging an increase before the TAL. 

In an interview with The Tribune, Milton Park Citizens’ Committee President and McGill Course Lecturer Garrfield Du Couturier-Nichol criticized the new rent system for reinforcing an unequal power imbalance between landlords and tenants.

“Landlords now have reached a point where if you don’t accept what they offer, what they want, they immediately say, ‘Okay, I’m taking you to the rent board.’ That scares students, it scares seniors, and it scares low-income people,” Du Couturier-Nichol said. “Now, in my own particular case, my landlord, over the last two years, not counting this year, got a $100 [CAD] increase, and pensions certainly did not go up to more than two per cent. This year she’s asking for an $80 [CAD]-a-month increase.”

Under the new rules, landlords can recover the cost of major renovations more quickly, with rent increases tied to a fixed five per cent annual threshold for capital expenditures. 

As a low-income demographic, students are often disproportionately affected by rent increases. Ossian Dalgiesh, U1 Arts, raised concerns in an interview with The Tribune about how renovation work may affect rents under the new five per cent threshold.

“As a student, rent is already expensive enough for me,” Dalgiesh said. “My landlord has been doing a lot of construction in the building. The construction kind of seems meaningless, and it’s disruptive to everybody else in the building. Now it makes me wonder if there’s another purpose behind all of the work that he decided to start doing.”

Wyatt Hogan, U1 Engineering, said in an interview with The Tribune that, while the recent changes make rent increases more predictable, tenants still need ways to contest them.

“For people who have tighter budget constraints, it would be much more challenging, because they would have to go through the process of finding a new place if the rent increases too much,” Hogan explained. “Predictability-wise, it would be nice to have some way you can expect [how much rent will increase] in the future […] but I feel there should be more flexibility for the tenants to fight back.”

Du Couturier-Nichol suggested that the new system disproportionately affects vulnerable groups, including students and seniors, by limiting tenants’ agency.

“Housing is a human right that is guaranteed under the Charter of the United Nations. If Quebec is not going to live up to that, then that doesn’t say very much for [the province], particularly in the case of seniors and students,” Du Couturier-Nichol said. “These are the two vulnerable groups. Students are studying. Many of them have a part-time job. Seniors can’t work. And I think that’s the problem. What are you going to do when the rent goes up eight or 10 per cent?”