Renters: know your rights

In this neighbourhood, more and more housing units are badly maintained and unclean," said Dominique Perrault, co-ordinator of the Comité logement de Bordeaux-Cartierville. Bordeaux-Cartierville is quickly becoming a popular destination for recent immigrants, and that influences landlords, Perrault said.

"Landlords know that immigrants don't know their rights and recourses very well, so they take advantage of that to let maintenance and repairs slide. It's something landlords themselves have told us," she said.

The biggest ongoing issues are the presence of toxic mould in walls, water infiltration, vermin (mostly rats and cockroaches) and leaky roofs.

Heating also poses special challenges for many residents. "Sometimes, landlords cut off the heating in the winter to try and save some money. The tenants find themselves without any heat or hot water," Perrault said.

Places l’Acadie and Henri-Bourassa are long known for dirty properties and negligent landlords, but the problems extends on many streets, such as Ranger, Michel-Sarrazin, de Salaberry and Dudomaine streets, Perrault reported.

To keep yourself from drowning under a wave of problems, a few simple examinations can help you steer clear of bad housing.

- Run the taps to make sure there is hot water and that the pressure is appropriate. Make sure the hot-water tank is either inside the apartment or accessible. Perrault said some residents have seen their neighbours plug into the reservoir directly to avoid paying for their hot water.

- Make sure you have access to the Hydro-Québec counter. This machine counts how much electricity actually gets used and allows residents to see if anyone is illegally using their apartment to pirate energy.

- Open the kitchen drawers. That's where the cockroaches like to hide out during the day. Examine closets and dark corners; that's where you'll often find rat poison and mousetraps.

- Ask the landlord a lot of questions and pay attention to his or her attitude. A landlord who refuses to answer questions or appears to be disagreeable is likely to be the same way after you've signed a lease.

- If the lease is incomplete, ask the landlord to include clauses. This is particularly important if repairs are necessary. If you sign a lease that is conditional on repairs being done, the lease must mention the repairs

- Read the building’s rules closely and reject any abusive clause on the spot.

- Call Hydro Solutions, a Hydro-Québec service to find out the approximate electricity costs for the unit. This information is public and allows renters to make sure that they aren't paying more to line someone else's pockets.

- When a problem arises, whether it's something broken, vermin or noisy neighbours, the first thing to do is verbally advise your landlord, once or twice.

- If the landlord does nothing, you have to send your landlord a formal notice which has to be registered, reminding him of the verbal notices you gave them, and giving him a specific amount of time (normally 10 days, less in the event of a heating problem) to take care of the problem.

- If the landlord still does nothing after the deadline you gave him, the next step is to open a file at the Régie du logement. The organization manages relationships between landlords and tenants. It costs between $50 and $68 to open a file and is free for those on social assistance. An inspector will be sent to confirm the validity of the complaint and eventually take care of the problem.

- In the meantime, you have to pile up evidence of your claims. The best way is to take photos of mould, vermin or defects. Ultimately, a landlord can be forced to fix a problem. If the situation is deemed critical, rent can also be returned and the tenants free to move elsewhere.

The Régie du logement du Québec is both a source of information and a counsel on housing matters.

It's important to be conscious that tenants don't have to put up with a situation that threatens their quality of life, they have rights and those rights can be helped if they want to defend them.

<@RB>Translated by Marc Lalonde<@^p>