Rents: an increase between 3 and 4% expected in Montreal
In an economic context marked by inflation, and following the increase in property taxes on buildings next year in Montreal, rents could also increase by around 3 to 4%, according to the Corporation of Real Estate Owners of Quebec (CORPIQ).
“Any increase in rents is too much in the current situation. These increases are added to the explosion of other costs such as those of food in particular, ”reacted Véronique Laflamme, the spokesperson for the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU), on the LCN antenna.
The latter believes that the recent 4.1% increase in property taxes announced by the City of Montreal does not justify an increase in rents in a similar proportion. Véronique Laflamme fears that the owners will use these figures to ask for excessive increases.
“Be careful, it is not because there is a 4% tax increase that tenants should expect a 4% rent increase. The tax increase is one of the components that will be taken into account in the calculation of the rent increase”.
According to FRAPRU, nearly 200,000 tenant households spend the equivalent of half their income on rent in Quebec. The organization which works for the right to housing urges the government to propose “structuring” solutions to counter the surge in housing prices, as well as alternatives to the private rental market.
Recall that the Coalition avenir Québec recently sent anti-inflation checks to all Quebecers whose annual income is less than $100,000.
“In the very short term, for households that already have a knife to their throats, maybe it will save them from going to the food bank for a week or two. But that is not a structuring measure to fight against their impoverishment, ”lamented Véronique Laflamme.
Some political parties, such as the Québec Solidaire (QS) party of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, propose to put a ceiling on the price of housing.
“A cap, a freeze, or mandatory rent control, these are three examples of structuring measures,” said the FRAPRU spokesperson.
