Tribunal administratif du logement
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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.
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
Leave to appeal
Revocation of decision
Language of trial
Abuse of procedure
Quarrelsomeness
Jurisdiction
The lessee sought :
The lessor sought :
Both applications were dismissed.
The Court of Quebec cannot award damages in the context of a dismissal of an application for leave to appeal from a decision of the Régie du logement.
The decision to allow the lessor’s representative to testify in French is a management decision taken during the hearing; that decision, which fell under the discretion of the administrative judge of the Régie du logement, cannot be reviewed by way of a revocation of judgment.
After dismissing an application for leave to appeal a decision of the Régie du logement, the Court of Quebec judge did not have the required jurisdiction to declare the appellant lessee quarrelsome.
Collins c. Immeubles Guy St-Louis inc. (29 janvier 2021)
Private seniors’ residence
Services offered
The Tribunal awarded the lessor :
The Tribunal administratif du logement has jurisdiction to hear a contestation of the assessment of the degree of care, frequency, and need for the lessee to receive certain services offered in the private seniors’ residence operated by the lessor.
No health care professional testified to explain the lessee’s state of health and the care it required.
The lessee needed help to dress more warmly before she was taken for dialysis when the temperature required it. The Tribunal estimated the value of those services at $25.
HCN-Cogir Lessee c. Misitano (7 janvier 2021)
Notification
The lessees sought :
The lessees’ application is expired
An application instituted with the Tribunal administratif du logement before August 31, 2020, that has not yet been notified on that date becomes subject to the rules then in force respecting notification of the application set out in s. 56.2 of the Act respecting the Administrative Housing Tribunal.
That section provides that proof of notification must be filed “within 45 days after the application is instituted”; failing which, “the application expires, and the Tribunal closes the record”.
The lessees did not file in the record proof of notification.
Mattalia c. Rasteiro (18 janvier 2021)
Lease cancelled
Restitution of prestations
The lessor appealed the Tribunal administratif du logement’s decision declining jurisdiction to hear his application with respect to an indemnity for re-leasing on the ground that the lease between the parties was cancelled due to a defect in consent.
Appeal allowed.
The cancelled lease is deemed to have never existed. Each party must then return to the other the prestations that were received.
Given the lessees’ actual occupancy of the premises prior to the Tribunal administratif du logement’s decision to cancel the lease, restitution in kind is impossible; therefore, it must be done by equivalence.
Therefore, the Tribunal administratif du logement has jurisdiction to hear the lessor’s application to claim an indemnity for re-lease.
Blouin c. Argall (16 décembre 2020)
Repossession of dwelling in bad faith by the lessor
The lessee is seekings $16,287 in damages
The lessor files an application to dismiss.
The lessee's application is inadmissible.
The application, which constitutes a recovery of a small claim, was made by a lawyer.
Contravention of art. 73 of the Act respecting the Régie du logement.
Inability to remedy the situation.
Savard c. Beaudry (November 30, 2018)
The lessor's proceeding is abusive
Its purpose is to avoid the execution of a decision of the Régie du logement by which he was ordered to pay the amount of $4,000
Harassment of the lessor
Loss of use of a shed
The lessee seeks:
The lessor seeks:
The administrative judge awards the lessee:
The lessor's proceeding is dismissed.
The lessor's allegations are not based on any legal basis or probative fact.
Filing a legal claim should not be taken lightly and should not be used as a tool for baseless resiliation.
The Régie du logement has no jurisdiction to sanction abusive proceedings.
The lessor used the letters he sent to the lessee and his proceeding to harass the lessee to get him to leave the dwelling.
Tang c. Bouti (November 7, 2018)
Lack of impartiality on the part of the administrative judge
The lessor is appealing a decision rendered by the Régie du logement.
The Administrative and Appeal Division of the Court of Québec refused to intervene.
Lack of an official application for recusation of the judge according to the procedure set out in the Rules of procedure of the Régie du logement.
The ground for recusation invoked orally by the lessor, namely the lack of impartiality arising from the fact that the administrative judge was already seized of a similar case involving the parties, is not one of the grounds listed in arts. 64 and 65 of the Act respecting the Régie du logement.
The lessor has not shown that the absence of recusation of the judge at the earliest opportunity affected her impartiality or brought the administration of the justice into disrepute.
Poirier-Pelletier c. Fortin (March 13, 2019)
Lessees are over three weeks late in paying the rent
Lessees signed a promise to purchase the building corresponding to their dwelling
Does the Régie du logement have jurisdiction to hear the dispute?
The lessor applies for:
(monthly rent is $1,020)
The lease is resiliated.
Lessees are ordered to pay the lessor $3,640.
The Régie du logement does not have jurisdiction to decide the case when the occupancy of the premises results from a promise to purchase.
The Régie has jurisdiction, however, if the time limit to acquire the building has expired.
In this case, the only contract binding the lessees and the lessor since July 1, 2018, (i.e. the expiry of the time limit to acquire the building) is a lease with an indeterminate term.
Lessees are over three weeks late in paying the rent.
Labelle c. Lambert (June 12, 2019)
On September 7, 2018, the Régie du logement resiliated the lease and ordered the lessee evicted from the rented premises
On October 2, 2018, an agreement was reached between the lessor and the lessee, who undertook to pay rent of $728, which represents arrears of $126 in addition to the monthly rent of $602, on the first day of each month for the period between October 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019
The lessee failed to comply with this agreement
The lessor instituted proceedings to evict the lessee from the dwelling pursuant to the decision of the Régie du logement and to seize the amount due and payable of $916.95
The lessee applies to have the proceedings instituted against him by the lessor cancelled.
The Régie dismisses:
Renouncing a right cannot be equivocal and the facts must establish this clear willingness to renounce it.
In order to have a tacit renunciation, the facts must establish a clear willingness to give up one’s right.
In reaching an agreement with the lessee, the lessor did not renounce her right to enforce the decision rendered by the Régie du logement.
Aware of the lessee’s financial difficulties, the lessor wanted to give him a second chance to pay his arrears and keep the dwelling.
The lessee did not take this opportunity since he was again unable to comply with his obligation to pay the rent on the first day of each month.
Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal c. John (May 14, 2019)
Application for postponement
Absence of the lessor’s expert witness from the hearing
Lack of diligence on the part of the lessor, who did not take reasonable steps to ensure the presence of her expert witness on the day of the hearing (e.g. through a subpoena)
Rule of proportionality
The lessor appeals the decision of the Régie du logement dismissing her application for postponement.
The decision of the Régie du logement does not justify appellate intervention.
The Régie’s decision to refuse the postponement was an exercise of discretion and a case management decision.
The Régie rendered a reasonable decision in dismissing the lessee’s application for postponement, given the costs incurred by the plaintiff insurance companies to adduce their evidence, the time elapsed since the facts giving rise to the damage, the previous postponements, and the importance of the proper administration of quasi-judicial resources, coupled with her noted lack of diligence in ensuring the presence of her witness at the hearing.
Structures métropolitaines (SMI) inc. c. Compagnie mutuelle d’assurances Wawanesa (June 12, 2019)
Application for rent reduction
Right to be represented by counsel
Right to make full answer and defence
Value of the dispute is less than $15,000
The lessor applies for leave to appeal a decision rendered by the Régie du logement refusing to allow it to be represented by counsel.
Leave to appeal is granted.
When a lessee or a lessor appears before the Régie du logement with counsel, he or she cannot predict whether or not he or she will be able to be represented at the hearing; this unpredictability is unacceptable.
The question of whether an application for a rent reduction of a disputed value below the threshold of admissibility before the Small Claims Division can constitute an application whose sole object is the recovery a debt within the meaning of art. 73 of the Act respecting the Régie du Logement, which prevents counsel from acting on behalf of the parties, is controversial and deserves to be considered on appeal.
Metcap Living Management inc. c. Rouleau (July 29, 2019)
Housing agreement
Professional and social integration program
Lease resiliation agreement: defect of consent
Jurisdiction of the Régie du logement
The lessee requests that the lease resiliation agreement with the lessor be declared invalid.
The Régie du logement declines jurisdiction.
The dwellings have a specific purpose; they are covered by a housing agreement closely associated with the code of conduct and the regulations determined by the non-profit organization Mères avec pouvoir (MAP), which is aimed at single mothers.
Since the residential lease is dependent on the lessee’s participation in the program offered by MAP, it must be considered an accessory to an innominate contract consisting primarily of obligations in the nature of a service contract.
Achille c. Inter-loge (August 21, 2019)
Jurisdiction of the Régie
Lessor’s extracontractual liability
The lessee claims:
The Régie does not have jurisdiction to hear the application.
The sign posted on the door of the dwelling – suggesting that the lessee offers sexual services and, which, according to the lessee, was placed by the building janitor with the connivance of the lessor – appears to constitute an attack on the lessee’s dignity, honour and reputation.
This act does not constitute a breach of the lessor’s contractual obligations but a delictual fault that falls within the scope of extracontractual liability, which is beyond the jurisdiction of the Régie.
Jélétian c. 9034-2452 Québec inc. (December 30, 2019)
Recovery of small claims
The lessor appeals:
The lessee’s appeal is dismissed.
An application for a rent reduction for a past period of time, where the amount in dispute does not exceed the threshold of admissibility before the Small Claims Division ($15,000), constitutes an application whose sole object is the recovery a debt within the meaning of art. 73 of the Act respecting the Régie du Logement, thus preventing counsel from acting on behalf of the parties.
Metcap Living Management Inc. c. Rouleau (January 22, 2021)
Abuse of process
The lessee applies for:
The Tribunal declines jurisdiction.
The last paragraph of s. 63.2 of the Act respecting the Administrative Housing Tribunal, which allows the Tribunal to rule on whether a proceeding is abusive or dilatory and to award damages to compensate for any resulting injuries suffered does not apply to a proceeding that was pending when it came into force on August 31, 2020.
The lessee’s application is intimately connected to an application instituted by the lessee before that provision came into force. It is therefore the former version, which allows for a ruling solely on the abusive nature of a proceeding, that applies.
Discontinuance to avoid a declaration of abuse of process may in itself be abusive and may therefore be refused by the Tribunal.
Appartements DSM inc. c. Ekanga Njanga (March 19, 2021)
Objection
Eviction
Payment of rent before judgment
The lessee objects:
The Court of Quebec authorizes:
The lessee may avoid resiliation of his lease by paying the rent due, along with interest and costs, before judgment.
In this case, the lessee paid the rent due when the judgment was rendered, but he paid the interests and the costs of $101 only two weeks later.
The Court applied the line of authority according to which, when the lessee pays before acquiring knowledge of the Tribunal administratif du logement decision, and only a modest amount in interest and costs remains outstanding “after the judgment”, the court may allow the lease to remain in force and block the eviction of the lessee if all outstanding amounts are fully paid by the date of the hearing before the Court of Quebec.
Casimy c. Chen (February 23, 2021)
Request for postponement
COVID-19
The lessee’s application is dismissed.
The lessee requested a postponement of the hearing, arguing that she was afraid to attend a hearing in person while the Montreal area was a “red zone” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She did not support the request with a medical certificate establishing that she would be at risk or evidence that the measures implemented by the Tribunal to ensure safety were inadequate.
In her application for revocation, the lessee stated that she was prevented from attending the hearing due to the pandemic. The administrative judge dismissed this application, stating that [TRANSLATION] “the case law establishes that the refusal to allow a postponement can be a ground of appeal, but it is not a ground of revocation”. There is no error in that decision.
Amari c. Heng (March 4, 2021)
Payment of interest and legal costs
The fact that a lessee failed to pay the interest and legal costs in a timely manner is not always fatal to maintaining the lease.
The lessee paid the rent in full before the judgment and she was eager to pay the interest and the costs as soon as she became aware of the amount due. The resiliation of the lease and resulting eviction is a disproportionate, excessive, and unreasonable sanction.
Danio (Dagneau) c. Hébert (March 4, 2021)
The lessees apply for:
The lessors apply for:
The Court of Quebec dismisses both applications.
The Tribunal administratif du logement has jurisdiction over all applications concerning the lease of a dwelling.
Since the daycare operated by the lessee used over one-third of the total floor area of the leased premises, the Tribunal concluded that the lease between the parties was not a lease of a dwelling.
The issue raised by the lessee regarding whether the operation of a home daycare constitutes a lease of a dwelling that “is used for purposes other than residential purposes” is not controversial. It is therefore not an issue that ought to be submitted to the Court of Quebec.
A judge of the Court of Quebec does not have the power to declare an application for leave to appeal abusive or to sanction such conduct.
Makhlouf c. Pino (March 4, 2021)
Promise to purchase an immovable
Residential lease
The lessor files:
The Superior Court concludes that:
The parties signed a contract before a notary that included two aspects: a promise to purchase-sell an immovable (section A of the contract) and a lease on that same immovable (section B of the contract).
In cases where a lease and a promise to purchase-sell coexist, it is not necessary to determine which contract is accessory to the other, but rather to define the true object of the dispute between the parties and whether it is related to the promise to purchase or to the rental agreement that allows for use of the immovable in the meantime.
In this case, the object of the dispute between the parties bears on the obligations contained in the lease and not on those in the promise to purchase-sell.
Roy c. Massicotte (April 14, 2021)
Nature of the lease
The lessees ask the Superior Court:
The Superior Court:
The lessees, who were unable to leave Quebec due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sought short-term accommodation. At the time, the rental of tourist accommodations was prohibited in Quebec.
The lessors offered the lessees a dwelling that is usually leased for resort purposes for an initial term of one month. The lessors refused to extend the lease beyond three months.
Despite the short rental period, it was a residential lease. Only the Tribunal administratif du logement has jurisdiction to hear the file since the value of the rent claimed is less than $85,000.
Singh c. Ladouceur (March 24, 2021)
Time limit
The lessees’ application is granted.
Order 2020-4251 (Order concerning the suspension of prescription and procedural periods and the use of another means of communication by reason of the public health emergency declared on 13 March 2020) applies to the time allowed to appeal a decision of the Régie du logement set out in s. 92 of the Act respecting the Régie du logement.
The application for leave to appeal instituted by the lessees was not filed outside the time limit.
Létourneau c. Piché* (April 15, 2021)
*Out-of-court settlement (C.Q., 2021-08-05)
The time allowed to appeal a decision of the Tribunal begins to run as of the date of the decision and not as of the date of notification of the decision.
Since the contested decision was dated December 16, 2020, and the lessee filed his application on January 22, 2021, this application was late.
Caraballo c. 9376-7200 Québec inc. (April 7, 2021)
Revocation of judgment
Right to be heard
Change of address
The lessee appeals:
The lessee was negligent in failing to inform the Régie of his new address.
Sections 60.1 and 89 of the Act respecting the Administrative Housing Tribunal set out the obligation concerning the change of address and state that a party who fails to comply cannot apply for the revocation of a decision rendered in his or her absence. These provisions incorporate the previous state of the law, which sanctioned a party’s failure to inform the Tribunal of a change of address, by dismissing an application for revocation that was based on an allegation that the notice of convocation was not received.
Grégoire c. RNP Investissements inc. (April 13, 2021)
Even if the party applying for leave to appeal a decision of the Tribunal demonstrates that the issue that he or she would like to bring before the Court of Quebec must be heard, no appeal is possible if one of the four exceptions set out in the second paragraph of s. 91 of the Act respecting the Administrative Housing Tribunal is applicable.
In this case, since the sole object of the decision was a small claim, no appeal is possible.
Nicolas c. Altagracia (June 21, 2021)
Fixing of rent
Necessary information form (RN form)
The lessor applied for:
The Tribunal:
Section 56.3 of the Act respecting the Administrative Housing Tribunal states that a lessor who presents an application for the fixing of rent must deposit the duly completed RN form and proof of its notification to the lessee in the Tribunal record within 90 days.
Failure to notify the RN form to the lessee results in the expiry of the application for the fixing of rent.
The lessor did not raise any reason to justify releasing her from her failure to notify the RN form to the lessee within the prescribed time. Notification of the “calculation tool” available on the Tribunal’s website is not enough to fulfill that obligation because the calculation sheet does not contain all the information that appears in the RN form.
Garceau c. Côté (October 29, 2021)
Right to appeal
Rent reduction
The lessor sought leave to appeal the Tribunal’s decision granting a rent reduction.
The Tribunal dismissed the lessor’s application.
The Tribunal’s decision may be appealed because the lessee’s application concerned primarily a rent reduction for the future, which is a declaratory application, not a small claims application within the meaning of section 91(2) of the Act respecting the Administrative Housing Tribunal.
The contested decision contains no error of law and raises no new or controversial issue that could justify granting the leave to appeal requested.
It is acknowledged that, even where a lessor who cannot provide the peaceful enjoyment of the leased premises due to superior force is not liable for the lessee’s prejudice, the lessee is still entitled to a rent reduction.
Mooncrest Investment inc. c. Almaleh (January 20, 2022)
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.
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.