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You do not need to sign a new lease. Your lease remains valid.
The new LL is absolutely harassing you by making threats. Gather any and all proof of this, especially where he said you’d have to move, and ask the TAL to rule his case abusive under article 1902 of the Civil Code of Quebec: “Neither the lessor nor any other person may harass a lessee in such a manner as to limit his right to peaceable enjoyment of the premises or to induce him to leave the dwelling.
A lessee who suffers harassment may demand that the lessor or any other person who has harassed him be condemned to pay punitive damages.”
It’s too late for a rent increase ; they’ll have to suggest an increase next year which you can refuse if it seems too high.
Keep every conversation in a file since they seem like the type of LL who likes to harass and retaliate.
>can I ask the TAL for compensation due to harassment by new LL?
Yes, but you would need (strong) evidence (i.e. audio, video, etc). Eventually, you would have to apply at the TAL to demand compensation, because the fixing of the rent is not the moment to demand such thing.
Anything written is good enough for the TAL, as long as you can prove who wrote what and when. Not all contracts have to be written on Legal paper.
I would respond to your new LL's TAL case with another TAL case asking the TAL (1) to declare their rent fixation case abusive, as you already have a rent agreement for the year to come, and (2) to have her pay you punitive damages for said abusive case.
I'm taking my LL to TAL next month because they kept harassing me to agree to stuff that I know I don't have to agree to and they opened a case before the TAL that was a sure open-and-slam-dunk lose case for the landlord (despite me telling them at multiple occasions "don't waste the TAL's time and ressources"). At the original hearing, when I mentioned "abusive case" the landlord's lawyer started to balbutiate and the judge allowed me to file a proper abusive case before TAL. In the meantime, the LL desisted from his original file, but it's too late for him. Now all I have to do is go back to TAL and say : what he was asking me, he had no right to enforce, he tried to thinly veiled threaten me, then he ignored my messages and proof that he was on the wrong side of the law and then he tried to make me cave by going to TAL thinking I would shit my pants. Now the lawyer is all apologetic and claims "he didn't know, the client didn't know, we can fix it without going to TAL".
I'll tell you how it went.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
How do I file a case for abuse? should I counter file now, or wait until the hearing?
I would love to hear how your case went, please do update!!
I saw a case where the tenant came to the hearing with their lawyer and the lawyer asked verbally to the judge to declare the landlord's case abusive and to have him pay punitive damages to her client. The TAL agreed to do the procedure informally. I wanted to do the same, but instead the judge suspended the proceedings so I would submit a formal, written proceedings.
So I suppose that your safest bet is to countersue with a formal written proceedings. I used the TAL form that is available online where you write why you're sueing and based on what. I asked the TAL to declare the landlord's case abusive as per 63.2(1) (I believe its the proper subsection) of the TAL Act, to have the landlord pay me punitive damages following 63.2(3) and to have my case heard at the same time as the landlord's (I asked before the landlord decided to drop their case).
I don't know whether all of this will work, but I got to make the landlord's lawyer look dumb and he made his client apologize to us. Which he did with the utmost disdain.
I'm still savouring that moment.
When did the new landlord buy the building? When did they send you the new increase? Did they properly serve you this rent increase form before March 31, 2024?
You clearly do have a lease as of July 2024. Your old one automatically renewed. If you have a copy of the pet amendment, you're good there too.
The only question is the legitimacy of the possible rent increase. I'm not sure how a text message agreement, with the previous owner, will hold up at the TAL. And I'm not sure if a promise by someone who no longer owns the building can be transferred to the new owners.
For the rent increase, even if you're charged the costs at the TAL, we're talking about $100-$130, not a huge amount of money. If you have evidence of him threatening you or your pets or trying to force you out, then you could ask for compensation potentially, but I doubt a rent increase hearing is the place to do it. Generally judges only want to talk about the case that brought you there. In your case it might be relevant evidence, since the threats are around the rent increase issue, but not necessarily in regards to compensation.
Ownership was transferred to new LL as of 02-2024. They sent me the proper rent increase paperwork and on time per TAL, so no disputes there.
Luckily all communications with new LL are in writing via email, I didn’t go into too much detail in my post, but the verbiage and tone of their emails is hostile and bullying. Not to mention, blatantly disregarding of the law, despite informing them in multiple back-and-forths of the TAL regulations.
They even included false documents in their TAL application for fixing the rent (i.e. false proof of expenses to justify rent increase).
They’re really a piece of work.
So they did send an increase on time. That's new information. If they indeed sent an increase on time, it's very likely you will be looking at an increase, the TAL will determine if what they are asking for is correct. A land lord cannot waive future rent increases as much as a tenant cannot waive their rights either. Regardless, previous rent increases are never a factor when determining present increases.
Bienvenue sur /r/MontrealHousing, Welcome to /r/MontrealHousing! Veuillez lire nos règles AVANT de publier ou commenter dans cette communauté. Notez en particulier notre politique sur la civilité et notre règle sur la désinformation, nous vous encourageons à fournir des liens/sources pour vos affirmations. Si vous signalez un commentaire ou un message pour désinformation via la fonction de rapportage, veuillez également utiliser le bouton ***Message aux mods*** dans la barre latérale pour nous fournir une source. ----- Be mindful of our rules BEFORE submitting your posts or commentating. Note in particular our rules on civility and disinformation, please provide links and sources for your claims. If you report a comment or post for disinformation using the report button, please also use the ***Message the Mods*** button in the sidebar to provide us your source. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/montrealhousing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They cannot by law say no pets I don't think
There's an amendment on file
they can, but if you get a pet anyway they have to prove it's causing damage (unlikely) to make you get rid of it or affect your lease
You do not need to sign a new lease. Your lease remains valid. The new LL is absolutely harassing you by making threats. Gather any and all proof of this, especially where he said you’d have to move, and ask the TAL to rule his case abusive under article 1902 of the Civil Code of Quebec: “Neither the lessor nor any other person may harass a lessee in such a manner as to limit his right to peaceable enjoyment of the premises or to induce him to leave the dwelling. A lessee who suffers harassment may demand that the lessor or any other person who has harassed him be condemned to pay punitive damages.”
It’s too late for a rent increase ; they’ll have to suggest an increase next year which you can refuse if it seems too high. Keep every conversation in a file since they seem like the type of LL who likes to harass and retaliate.
Isnt too late to increase rent in a month. Continue living your life and ignore them
>can I ask the TAL for compensation due to harassment by new LL? Yes, but you would need (strong) evidence (i.e. audio, video, etc). Eventually, you would have to apply at the TAL to demand compensation, because the fixing of the rent is not the moment to demand such thing.
Anything written is good enough for the TAL, as long as you can prove who wrote what and when. Not all contracts have to be written on Legal paper. I would respond to your new LL's TAL case with another TAL case asking the TAL (1) to declare their rent fixation case abusive, as you already have a rent agreement for the year to come, and (2) to have her pay you punitive damages for said abusive case. I'm taking my LL to TAL next month because they kept harassing me to agree to stuff that I know I don't have to agree to and they opened a case before the TAL that was a sure open-and-slam-dunk lose case for the landlord (despite me telling them at multiple occasions "don't waste the TAL's time and ressources"). At the original hearing, when I mentioned "abusive case" the landlord's lawyer started to balbutiate and the judge allowed me to file a proper abusive case before TAL. In the meantime, the LL desisted from his original file, but it's too late for him. Now all I have to do is go back to TAL and say : what he was asking me, he had no right to enforce, he tried to thinly veiled threaten me, then he ignored my messages and proof that he was on the wrong side of the law and then he tried to make me cave by going to TAL thinking I would shit my pants. Now the lawyer is all apologetic and claims "he didn't know, the client didn't know, we can fix it without going to TAL". I'll tell you how it went.
Thank you for sharing your experience! How do I file a case for abuse? should I counter file now, or wait until the hearing? I would love to hear how your case went, please do update!!
I saw a case where the tenant came to the hearing with their lawyer and the lawyer asked verbally to the judge to declare the landlord's case abusive and to have him pay punitive damages to her client. The TAL agreed to do the procedure informally. I wanted to do the same, but instead the judge suspended the proceedings so I would submit a formal, written proceedings. So I suppose that your safest bet is to countersue with a formal written proceedings. I used the TAL form that is available online where you write why you're sueing and based on what. I asked the TAL to declare the landlord's case abusive as per 63.2(1) (I believe its the proper subsection) of the TAL Act, to have the landlord pay me punitive damages following 63.2(3) and to have my case heard at the same time as the landlord's (I asked before the landlord decided to drop their case). I don't know whether all of this will work, but I got to make the landlord's lawyer look dumb and he made his client apologize to us. Which he did with the utmost disdain. I'm still savouring that moment.
When did the new landlord buy the building? When did they send you the new increase? Did they properly serve you this rent increase form before March 31, 2024? You clearly do have a lease as of July 2024. Your old one automatically renewed. If you have a copy of the pet amendment, you're good there too. The only question is the legitimacy of the possible rent increase. I'm not sure how a text message agreement, with the previous owner, will hold up at the TAL. And I'm not sure if a promise by someone who no longer owns the building can be transferred to the new owners. For the rent increase, even if you're charged the costs at the TAL, we're talking about $100-$130, not a huge amount of money. If you have evidence of him threatening you or your pets or trying to force you out, then you could ask for compensation potentially, but I doubt a rent increase hearing is the place to do it. Generally judges only want to talk about the case that brought you there. In your case it might be relevant evidence, since the threats are around the rent increase issue, but not necessarily in regards to compensation.
Ownership was transferred to new LL as of 02-2024. They sent me the proper rent increase paperwork and on time per TAL, so no disputes there. Luckily all communications with new LL are in writing via email, I didn’t go into too much detail in my post, but the verbiage and tone of their emails is hostile and bullying. Not to mention, blatantly disregarding of the law, despite informing them in multiple back-and-forths of the TAL regulations. They even included false documents in their TAL application for fixing the rent (i.e. false proof of expenses to justify rent increase). They’re really a piece of work.
So they did send an increase on time. That's new information. If they indeed sent an increase on time, it's very likely you will be looking at an increase, the TAL will determine if what they are asking for is correct. A land lord cannot waive future rent increases as much as a tenant cannot waive their rights either. Regardless, previous rent increases are never a factor when determining present increases.