Section “G” of Your Lease: Watch Out for Excessive Rent Increases

If you’ve just signed a lease or if you’re about to sign one, pay close attention to section G. If this section is left empty, if the information is false or if the rent being asked by your landlord is much higher than the amount written in this section, you may have recourses.

Your landlord must fill out section G of the lease. They must write the lowest rent paid in the last 12 months or the rent set by the housing court during that same period.

If your landlord is asking for more than the previous rent

If the rent being asked by your landlord is higher than the one written in section G of your lease, you can ask Quebec’s housing court, the Tribunal administratif du logement, to set the rent.

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

You can also, before or after filing this request, talk to your landlord and try to negotiate the rent.

If your landlord hides this information

After signing your lease, you notice that your landlord left section G empty? Or maybe your landlord never gave you a copy of the lease?

In this case, you have two months from the start of your lease to file a request with the housing court 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 amount listed in section G is false to ask the housing court to set the rent.

In both cases, you can also ask the housing court to order your landlord to pay you punitive damages. Punitive damages can be awarded when your landlord acted in an intentional or malicious way, or if they acted in bad faith.

A unit that hasn’t been rented in the last year

If no rent was paid for the unit in the 12 months before you signed your lease, your landlord doesn’t have to fill out section G. However, they must give you a notice mentioning the last rent paid and when it was paid.

In this case, even if the rent being asked is higher, you can’t ask the housing court to set a new rent. However, if your landlord doesn’t give you this notice or writes false information in it, you can ask the housing court to order your landlord to pay you punitive damages.