The Tribunal administratif du logement is a specialized tribunal that has competence in residential lease matters. Its mission consists in deciding the applications that have been submitted within the framework of simple rules of procedure that respect natural justice; in informing the citizens on their rights and obligations related to the lease so as to avoid that conflicts occur due to the ignorance of the law; in promoting conciliation between lessors and lessees.

The Tribunal also keeps a watch, in certain circumstances, on the conservation of the housing stock.

The Tribunal administratif du logement decides in first instance, to the exclusion of any tribunal:

• on any application respecting the lease of a dwelling where the sum claimed or the value of the thing claimed or of the interest of the applicant in the object of the application is less than $100,000*;
• on any application, whatever the amount, concerning a lease renewal, a rent fixing, a repossession, a division of the dwelling, a change of destination or a substantial enlargement of the dwelling or the lease of a dwelling in low-rental housing.

* Since February 21, 2024, the Tribunal may hear in first instance any application respecting an order or an authorization contemplated in articles 1863, 1867, 1917 and 1918 of the Civil Code of Québec where the value involved is of $100,000 or more.

The Tribunal administratif du logement also decides on any application pertaining to the conservation of dwellings and the protection of lessees:

• demolition of a dwelling where there is no municipal regulation that provides for it;
• sale of a rental building within a building complex;
• converting residential buildings to divided co-ownership.

The jurisdiction of the Tribunal administratif du logement governs:

• leases relating to the services, accessories and dependencies of a dwelling;
• the lease of a mobile home placed on a chassis or of land intended for the emplacement of a mobile home;
• the lease of a room, except if situated in a health or social services institution (except pursuant to article 1974 of the C.C.Q.) or in a hotel establishment or if not more than two rooms are rented or offered for rent in the principal residence of the lessor and if the room has neither a separate entrance from the outside nor sanitary facilities separate from those used by the lessor.

However, the jurisdiction of the Tribunal does not cover the lease of a dwelling leased as a vacation resort nor the lease of a dwelling in which over one-third of the total floor area is used for purposes other than residential.

In addition to its first instance jurisdiction, the Tribunal administratif du logement may review a decision in the following cases, provided an application for review is filed within one month of the date of the decision:

1. The object of the application for review is the fixing of the rent, the modification of another condition of the lease or the revision of the rent.
2. The decision was rendered by a special clerk under subparagraph 5 of the first paragraph of section 30.2, unless the decision pertains to an application that the parties agreed to allow the special clerk to rule on.

In addition, if the decision of the special clerk authorizes the deposit of the rent for nonperformance of the lessor's obligations or for a serious reason, such a decision may be reviewed by an administrative judge, at the lessee’s request, if the lessee applies for a review within 10 days of the date of the decision.

Other decisions rendered by the Tribunal may be appealed, with the authorization of a judge of the Court of Québec, except in the following cases:

1. The object of the decision is the fixing of the rent, the modification of another condition of the lease or the revision of the rent.
2. The sole object of the decision is the recovery of a debt not exceeding $15,000.
3. The decision concerns the preservation of dwellings, except where it awards:
   • a re-location indemnity to a lessee evicted from a dwelling after the lessor obtained authorization to demolish the dwelling from the Tribunal
   • damages for unlawful repossession or repossession for the purpose of converting the immovable to divided co-ownership
   • damages following the work carried out to prepare the immovable for the conversion and evict the lessee, whether or not the lessee agreed to leave the dwelling
   • punitive damages
4. The decision authorizes that the rent be deposited.