Important Note: By pushing the government to adopt emergency rental measures, the objective of a rent strike is to prevent tenants from suffering the consequences of not being able to pay their rent during the health crisis.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF I DON’T PAY MY RENT?
- Hearings at the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du logement) are currently suspended. They will resume after the COVID-19 State of Emergency ends. If you do not pay your rent during this State of Emergency, you may suffer legal consequences after the crisis.
- Unpaid rent beyond three weeks may result in lease termination and the eviction of tenants.
- Frequent delays in paying rent may also result in lease termination and the eviction of tenants.
It’s possible to avoid these penalties:
a) by succeeding with a rent strike leading to the cancellation of rents by the government.
b) by paying your rent within the first 20 days of the month.
c) by paying your rent and supplementary costs owed to the landlord before the Régie du logement makes a judgment ordering the termination of the lease, as long as you are not in a previous situation of frequent delays.
A GENERAL COMMENT ABOUT RENT STRIKES
A rent strike presents many challenges. Far from defending the interests of tenants, the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du logement) is a veritable eviction machine. It’s important to be aware of this before you stop paying your rent. However, the current social situation is extraordinary. If a political decision is made to release tenants from our obligations to pay rent, and to release landlords from their mortgage payments, the consequences described could be null. It is to help those who are unable to pay their rent during this crisis that we want the government to adopt such measures. Not surprisingly, in this period of crisis, solidarity and mutual aid are the pillars of our collective strength!
POTENTIAL LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF PARTICIPATING IN A RENT STRIKE
Warning: The law is subject to differing interpretations. What is presented here has been verified by legal experts. However, it is not the absolute truth since other interpretations of housing law are possible.
Am i protected by the SUSPENSION OF HEARINGS DURING THE HEALTH CRISIS
No. Hearings at the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du logement) are suspended until the end of the health crisis, and the aim of the rent strike is to ensure that no one is punished for non-payment of rent. However, in the current legal context, a landlord can request, through legal channels, an overdue amount of rent, up to three years after the day on which it was not paid. In other words, failure to pay your rent during the health crisis may well have legal consequences in the future, including lease termination and eviction.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN TO ME?
As soon as there is a one day delay in paying rent, a landlord can request payment. This is possible specifically by means of a hearing at the Régie du logement for non-payment of rent. If at the time of the hearing, the rent has been due for more than 3 weeks, the owner is entitled to request the lease termination, and therefore the eviction of the tenant. However, if there is no frequent delay in paying the rent, paying the rent within the first 20 days of the month, before the hearing, or on the day of the hearing, avoids lease termination.
CAN UNPAID RENT TURN INTO FREQUENT DELAY?
Yes. Unpaid rent is supposed to be paid with the following month’s rent. That means that rent that remains unpaid for more than two months automatically implies a frequent delay on the part of the tenant. To give an example of the implications of this: if a person does not pay their April rent and the landlord obtains a hearing with the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du logement) in September regarding this non-payment, the tenant may be accused of frequent delay for a period of 6 months. Frequent delay, if it causes serious damage to the owner, may constitute a legal reason which justifies the eviction of a tenant.
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF FREQUENT LATE PAYMENT?
If a tenant is late in paying rent several times, even by a few days, a landlord can request a hearing at the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du logement) to evict the tenant based on frequent delays. The owner must demonstrate a serious prejudice. In the current environment – where the major Canadian banks have announced the possibility of obtaining a suspension of mortgage payments for up to 6 months – it would therefore be possible to contest the existence of serious prejudice to these delays. It is important to note, however, that mortgage payments are not suspended across the board. This is a case-by-case negotiation between a landlord (borrower) and the bank (lender).
HOW TO UNDERTAKE THE RENT STRIKE AND MINIMIZE CONSEQUENCES?
If you are not already a tenant with frequent rent payment delays, there are many ways to minimize the consequences of a rent strike:
- by collectively winning a rent strike leading to the government cancelling rent payments.
- by paying your rent within the first 20 days of the month.
- by paying the overdue rent in order to avoid eviction if the request is based on a delay of more than 3 weeks in the payment of the rent. If the rent payment is made within the framework of a hearing at the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du Logement), it must also include administrative costs (approximately $ 75), plus interest and any additional compensation provided for by the Civil Code (around 6.5% annually). Importantly, in order to avoid eviction for unpaid rent, the payment must absolutely be made before the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du logement) makes a judgment. If the landlord’s request is based on frequent delays to pay rent by the tenant, lease termination and eviction cannot be remedied by conventional means.
WILL FAILURE TO PAY RENT AFFECT MY FUTURE HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES?
Failure to pay rent has no effect on credit history (credit rating). A future landlord will therefore not be able to obtain this information in the context of a credit investigation, for example. However, if the Quebec Rental Board (Régie du logement) makes a decision concerning your non-payment of rent, a future landlord will be able to find out from your name or an old address, if they search for it.