The questions we get.

Leasing is a one time mandate. We market the unit, run the showings, verify the applicants and get the lease signed, then hand you a tenant. Property management is ongoing. Once the tenant is in, we handle the rent, the repairs, the suppliers, the TAL and the monthly reporting. Many owners start with leasing and add management once they have seen how the first placement went.

No. Managing a co ownership syndicate is a different profession involving meetings, contingency funds, maintenance logbooks and relations between co owners and doing it properly requires a structure we chose not to build. We manage for private owners. If you own a unit inside a condominium we can manage your unit and represent you with the syndicate, without managing the syndicate itself.

The island of Montreal, concentrated in Westmount, Outremont, Town of Mount Royal, Hampstead, the Golden Square Mile, Old Montreal and Nuns’ Island, plus the South Shore, the North Shore and the Laurentians. Beyond that, write to us. We would rather decline a mandate we cannot visit properly than take it and serve it badly.

The only number that matters is what comparable properties actually leased for in your sector over the last six months, not asking prices, which include everything that is not renting. We pull those comparables street by street and hand you a range with the addresses behind it. At the high end the gap between asking and closing is often eight to fifteen percent.

By verification rather than instinct: identity, a credit file obtained under separate written consent, employment confirmation, a call to the previous landlord and a search of the published decisions of the Tribunal administratif du logement. The accompanied showing often tells you as much as the file does. We hand you the complete file and a reasoned recommendation. The final call is yours.

You can refuse on verifiable creditworthiness and rental history. You cannot refuse on a ground protected by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which includes origin, religion, language, age, civil status, sexual orientation and social condition. The Civil Code also specifically prohibits refusing someone because she is pregnant or because they have children. This is why we do not apply a published rule such as income being three times the rent. In Quebec a rigid income threshold can be challenged as discrimination based on social condition.

No. In Quebec a landlord may not require a security deposit, last month’s rent in advance, or mandatory post dated cheques. The first month’s rent, payable at the start of the lease, is the limit. An owner who does not know this is exposed at the TAL from the first disagreement.

The Tribunal administratif du logement, formerly the Régie du logement, decides disputes between landlords and tenants: non payment, rent fixing, repossession, works and termination. Yes, we handle it. We build the file, serve notices inside the deadlines and attend the hearing. Fees tied to TAL files are set out separately in the mandate and we tell you before we open one.

Yes. For residential housing in Quebec the lease must be made on the mandatory form of the Tribunal administratif du logement. The schedules covering building rules, parking, furnishings and the tenant insurance requirement attach to it and that is where half of all misunderstandings get settled. The mandatory disclosure of the lowest rent paid in the previous twelve months must appear on it.

You may propose an increase by serving a notice of modification of the lease conditions, between three and six months before the end of a twelve month lease. The tenant has one month to refuse. If they do, the TAL fixes the rent on its own criteria: taxes, insurance, energy, major work and maintenance. We prepare the calculation, serve the notice inside the legal window and argue the file if it comes to that.

Tourist rental under 31 days requires a tourist accommodation registration number displayed on every listing and is only permitted where municipal zoning allows it, which excludes most residential sectors on the island. Platforms are required to remove listings without a valid number. We do not manage short term rentals, but we can tell you whether your address qualifies before you invest in the idea.

Rental management is normally billed as a percentage of rent collected and leasing as a flat fee or a fraction of one month’s rent. We do not publish a rate card, because a studio in Griffintown and a triplex in Westmount have nothing in common. We visit, then we send you a written number within five business days.

We follow up on day three, in writing and by phone. With no arrangement by the deadline set in the mandate we send a formal demand and open a TAL file. The Civil Code allows a landlord to seek termination of the lease when rent is more than three weeks late and a file documented from month one is worth far more than one assembled in month four.

No. It is written into the mandate. We take no commission on trade invoices and we accept nothing from vendors. The plumber’s invoice you receive is the one the plumber gave us, attached to your monthly statement so you can check it.