The right to housing is also the right to security

This area of law mainly concerns the relationship between landlords and tenants in connection with a lease. We can represent you and argue your case before the Administrative Housing Tribunal, or help you prepare it where appropriate.

We would be pleased to answer your questions and inform you of the possible courses of action in your case.

What we see most often

On the tenant side: a rent increase and no idea how to refuse it, a repossession notice served so the landlord’s son or daughter can move in, a unit that is poorly heated or leaking with nobody coming to fix it, a security deposit demanded even though the law forbids it. On the landlord side: rent unpaid for more than three weeks, a unit abandoned or damaged, a tenant subletting without notice, a repossession that has to be done by the book.

In every one of these cases, deadlines matter as much as the merits. A notice of lease modification must be refused in writing within one month of receipt; after that, the increase is deemed accepted. A repossession or eviction notice calls for an answer within a month; with no answer, the tenant is deemed to have refused, and it is then up to the landlord to apply to the Tribunal. An application to terminate a lease for non-payment can be filed as soon as the rent is more than three weeks late. So we always start by reading the lease and the notices, dates in hand, before saying anything about the odds.

Unlike the Small Claims Division, the Administrative Housing Tribunal allows you to be represented by a lawyer. Depending on the case and your budget, we can take on the whole mandate — drafting the application, the evidence, the hearing — or limit ourselves to preparation: the demand letter, choosing which documents to file, rehearsing your testimony. We see clients in Sherbrooke and Quebec City, and the Tribunal also holds hearings by videoconference.