Montreal is tightening the screws on owners who poorly maintain their rental properties, Valérie Plante assured Thursday, following a “blitz” of inspections.
Posted at 3:44 p.m.
Municipal officials visited 91 buildings with more than 100 units this spring, detecting around a thousand problems. Only six fines have been distributed so far, a figure which is expected to increase if certain requested fixes are not carried out quickly.
“We are increasing the pressure,” said the mayor.
“We wanted to send a very strong message that we were going to pursue the owners,” she continued. “The majority of owners are very good owners, there are a few that you see in the newspapers often. We know these people, we are going to follow them. And we will also start to pursue those who slip through the cracks. »
Mme Plante also announced an increase in the inspection budget by one million dollars per year for three years.
This increase will make it possible to carry out more preventive inspections, without complaints from tenants, indicated the elected official responsible for Housing, Benoit Dorais.
“If from the start in the preventive inspections we see very significant violations: immediately [on donne un] statement of offence. That’s very important,” he said, still in connection with the City of Montreal’s toughening tone regarding unsanitary buildings. “In the case of less serious problems, the list of fixes to be done is quickly transmitted to the owner and there we actively put ourselves – I would say – on his back. We’re going to want this all fixed within a month. »
“You’re going to see a lot more work [en lien avec] unsanitary conditions that would not have been detected because people did not complain. And no more tickets,” said Mr. Dorais.
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