The Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) suggests an average increase in rental prices of 5.9% in 2025, a marked jump compared to the growth estimate of recent years.
This is the estimate for basic unheated accommodation. According to this hypothesis, a tenant who pays rent of $1,000 could see his bill increase to $1,059 when his lease is renewed.
The evaluation does not take into account the specificities of each building and each housing unit, recalls the TAL in its annual report on Tuesday.
The operating income and expenses for a building can justify a variation in rent distinct from this example of calculation, particularly if the building has undergone major work, underlines the organization.
The increase in municipal taxes in the area where you live also has an influence on the average estimate of rent adjustment.
The estimate concerns the period between April 2, 2025 and April 1, 2026.
Last year, its rent increase projection was 4%, while it was 2.3% in 2023 and 1.28% in 2022.
Questioned Tuesday about this increase suggested by the TAL, the Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, reiterated that the solution to the current crisis of unaffordability and availability of housing is to increase the offer.
“We have been making a lot of efforts over the past six years for more housing, to make all our off-market rents accessible,” underlined Ms. Duranceau. She said housing search services “are already in action”.
The spokesperson for the Liberal Party of Quebec on housing, Virginie Dufour, for her part argued that the formula used by the TAL to calculate rent increases should be reviewed.
“There have been years that it has benefited one or the other [les locataires ou les propriétaires]but in all cases, it almost never reflects reality,” declared Ms. Dufour.
-“What we see is that the increases that are proposed are very significant while citizens are already caught by the throat,” she added.
Several organizations react
According to the Popular Action Front in Urban Redevelopment (FRAPRU), the average estimates made by the TAL for 2025 are the highest in 37 years, i.e. since 1988, with regard to housing heated with electricity by owners, as well as since 1992 in the case of unheated housing.
FRAPRU stated in a press release that it feared that the rise in the cost of housing would continue to accelerate.
“It’s like a spiral in which tenants are caught: because there is inflation in the cost of housing, the average estimate increases more significantly and because rents increase significantly, the “Inflation in the cost of housing continues to increase,” argued FRAPRU spokesperson Véronique Laflamme in the same document.
The Association of Housing Committees and Tenant Associations of Quebec (RCLALQ) for its part said it was “dismayed” by the estimates published by the TAL.
“The current context of soaring rents requires urgent intervention on the part of the CAQ government,” said the RCLALQ in a press release.
“The RCLALQ therefore asks the Minister responsible for Housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, to modify the method of setting rents in order to exclude elements linked to the owner’s profit, such as net income. Also, he calls for a freeze on rents pending the establishment of real compulsory rent control,” we can read in the press release.
The Association of Quebec Owners (APQ) for its part affirmed that it wanted to “put things into perspective”.
The APQ maintained in a press release that the 2025 TAL rates are a “missed opportunity to reestablish a certain balance between the obligations and expenses of owners and the calculations for setting rent.”
“Year after year, landlords are under intense pressure from various laws, regulations and obligations to maintain a safe, healthy and affordable rental stock, while they are given no opportunity to do so through a fixing method. up-to-date or even subsidies adapted to rental properties of all sizes,” indicated the APQ.
