Section “G” of Your Lease: A Watchdog Against Excessive Rent Increases

If you’ve just signed a lease, pay close attention to section “G”, which you can find on page three of the standard residential lease. It’s in this section that your landlord must tell you the lowest rent that was paid over the last 12 months before your arrival.

If your landlord is charging you more than the previous rent

As a first step, you can try and negotiate a lower rent with your landlord. If no agreement seems possible, you can file an application with the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL or rental board) to ask the TAL to set the rent.

You must file this application within 10 days of signing the lease.

If your landlord did not write down the previous rent

Did you notice that your landlord left section “G” empty after signing the lease? In this case, you have two months from the start of your lease to file an application with the TAL to ask them to set the rent.

If your landlord made a false declaration

You have two months from the time that you learn that the previous rent declared by the landlord was false to file an application with the TAL to set the rent.

If you want to learn more about leases and the different rules that apply to them, head on over here.