Summaries of decisions

Assignment or sublease

The Tribunal makes summaries of decisions on various topics available to you.

That tool could be useful to prepare your application or as part of a conciliation session. For example, it could help you estimate the amount of damages to which you are entitled or the nature of the orders likely to be issued by the Tribunal.

Warning

The following examples of judgements are provided for information purposes only.

Several factors can influence an administrative judge’s decision. For example, a clause provided for in the lease, the relevance and quality of the evidence provided, etc. In summary, each case is different and each decision depends on the evidence submitted to the Tribunal.

Issue

Assignment of lease

Succession

Death of lessee
Summary of the application

The lessor sought :

  • to have the lease resiliated
Outcome

The application was dismissed.
Reasons

The right to maintain occupancy in the premises is a personal right and the liquidator of the deceased lessee’s succession cannot assign the lease.

Even if the lessee is found to have committed a fault, the lessor did not establish that she was seriously prejudiced by the fact that the succession allowed a third party to occupy the premises without her knowledge, and then attempted to assign the lease to that person without right.
Full judgment

9103-2037 Québec inc. c. Succession de Robitaille (27 novembre 2020)

 

Issue

Sub-lease

Occupancy without right

Responsibility of lessors

Payment of rent
Summary of the application

The lessors seek from the lessees and the guarantor :

  • $3,200 in material damages
  • $5,000 in moral damages
Outcome

The Tribunal :

  • Dismissed the lessors’ application
  • Declined jurisdiction over the claim based on extracontractual faults allegedly committed by the sub-lessee
Reasons

The lessors are third parties with respect to the sub-lease agreement entered into between the lessees and the sub-lessee.

The lessees cannot be held responsible for the lost rent for the month of July 2019. Their responsibility ended on June 30, when the lease ended.

At that point, it is the sub-lessee, and only the sub-lessee, who committed a fault by remaining in the apartment and who should have been sued by the lessors.
Full judgment

Longpré c. Allard (12 janvier 2021)

 

Issue

The lessor refuses to allow the lessor to assign her lease to a potential assignee
Summary of the application

The lessee asks the Régie du logement to declare her lease assignment valid.

The lessor applies for:

  • resiliation of the lease
  • recovery of a portion of the unpaid rent for the month of May, i.e., $178
Outcome

The Régie noted that the lease assignment was valid, but that it had become moot.

The lessee’s action for damages is reserved for the prejudice that she suffered due to the lessor’s unjustified refusal to consent to the assignment.

The lease was resiliated due to the lessor’s fault, retroactively to May 1, 2019.
Reasons

The lessor may not refuse to consent to the assignment of a lease without a serious reason.

The lessor’s reasons must be based on the characteristics of the assignee (for e.g. ability to pay, insolvency or failure to comply with the obligations under the lease).

The lessor cannot circumvent the lessee’s right to assign his lease by offering to resiliate the contract instead.

It was up to the lessor to take reasonable steps to obtain all the necessary information in order to make her decision; the law provides that the lessee must provide the name and address of the potential assignee.

In this case, the lessor did not establish serious reasons to refuse the assignment.
Full judgment

Laflamme c. Gestion Reluc inc. (June 6, 2019)

 

Issue

Sublease

Resiliation of lease

Prohibition on subleasing

Costs exigible
Summary of the application

The lessor applies for:

  • resiliation of the lease or an order prohibiting any subleasing
  • $11 in damages
  • $3,000 in moral damages
Outcome

The Tribunal grants the lessor:

  • $11 in damages
Reasons

The lessee had successively found three sub-lessees interested in temporary residential occupancy for a few months.

The lessor did not suffer serious harm as a result of the sub-lessees’ occupation of the leased premises before the lessor accepted or refused their presence.

The order sought by the lessor to prohibit sub-leasing is contrary to the law since the lessee’s right to sublease or assign the lease is of public order.

The lessor is entitled to the reasonable investigation costs related to one of the requests to sublease.
Full judgment

Gestion SCCM c. Hartog (January 18, 2021)

Note to reader: The above examples of decisions were selected and summarized by SOQUIJ. In rare instances, they may have been appealed from before a higher court. If you wish to cite one of those judgments before a tribunal, it is recommended that you check the plumitif of the courthouse in question.

Continue searching

If need be, you can consult other decisions with regard to dwelling leases by using the search engine (in French only) available free of charge on the SOQUIJ website. For best results, simply select a tribunal (e.g. Tribunal administratif du logement), and enter French key words such as “bruit” (noise), “moisissure” (mould), “zoothérapie” (animal therapy), “résiliation” (resiliation), “expulsion” (eviction), etc.

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