Montreal Landlord from h**l: Legal questions?

Question

so we moved into an apartment in Montreal in January , signed a contract saying we would endure 1-3 month construction [latest ending May] in and around our apartment. It is mid July and our place still looks like Kosovo -- from the outside. Our walls are totally removed, replaced with plastic covering, it looks like a garbage dump. Our main staircase was removed and boarded up and now we only have a single staircase going down our back entrance. We have dealt with tremendous amounts of dust and noise, and paid full rent all of these months. We are beginning to feel ripped off and need to know if we are within legal bounds to get out of this lease, and perhaps sue for a return on our rent. The contracts fine print reads that our place must be habitable or it is against the law, plus we need to have two staircases, one leading to the street, and we currently have none. We were told this place would be finished months ago, and our landlord is being evasive . Help, please

Answer 1

If you are going to walk away from your lease, document everything.  Use a digital camera with a date and time stamp and take a picture of something that has the current date on it, newspaper, etc.  If you can take samples of the asbestos, that would be excellent, also if you could get the fire department to verify fire code violations that would be good too.

It may well be the contractors fault, they often don't get things done when they say, but that is the landlord's problem not yours.  From what you say the lease specified certain things and he has not fulfilled those conditions.  Leases are contracts - but they work both ways.

PS Oregon is a nice place, I wouldn't avoid it because of one person's opinion.

Answer 2

ID for sure about Montreal - but in the US you cannot break a lease for things being worked on and you are not entitled to any rent reduction.  

He may be in the right for blaming the contractors - they are notorious for taking longer than they say they will and he has no control over that.

I'm sorry but you either have to deal with it or move. Would you rather he not fix these things at all????

and NO - he has NOT broken the law, he is working on making it habitable - it may not be fair - but it is legal.

EDIT: First of all its MISS.  And you did not say anything about the other stairs being unsafe. And I KNOW I'm not in Montreal - I was just trying to help -

THANK YOU -and I'm sorry you are so frustrated. I love it here too. I'm an Oregonian born and raised.

Answer 3

In my opinion you have every right to break your lease- and legally.  Quebec like every other province in Canada has a Rental Tenancy Act.  Read it.  Your province will also have provisions for landlord/tenant disputes.  Someone will arbitrate your case.  It is binding. File a claim. It's generally around $50.   You'll get this back if you win. Take lots of time stamped pictures.  Keep all of your documentation for when the case is heard.  Make sure any future correspondences between you and the landlord are in writing.

Your landlord is blowing you off and railroading you.   He is responsible for what his contractors do whether it is his fault or not.   By the sounds of it your place is unfit for living at this time.

At the very least you deserve a substantial rent deduction if you continue staying under these conditions.  The arbitrator will likely pro-rate previous months if you request it in your submission.    Something else you can do is stay in a hotel until the work is done and bill the landlord for all of your expenses.

Your landlord is seriously inconveniencing you and yet still expects you to pay full rent.

The Landlord/Tenant Disputes office in your province deals with this sort of thing everyday.  It is an informal process and very effective.

If I were you I would try to recover as much as you possibly can.  He may tell you that it is not his responsibility and that his hands are tied.  It doesn't matter, he is still responsible for the people he hires to do the job.

He is banking on your goodwill and that you'll do nothing.  He is stalling!

Good luck.  Personally, I think you have a good case.  Email me and let me know what you decide to do.  If you do go to arbitration I'd love to know the outcome.