After reading the decision, you may be in one of two situations depending on whether you are the applicant or the defendant.

Applicant:

• You accept the decision and want what’s in it to be done;
  
• You are unhappy with the decision and want to contest it.

Defendant:

• You do what the commissioner decided;
  
• You are unhappy with the decision and want to contest it.

If you wish to contest a commissioner’s ruling, you may be entitled to do one of the following things:

1. Before the Régie, you can request:

• correction;
  
• revocation; or
  
• review.

2. An appeal to the Court of Québec.

You must obtain permission from a judge of the Court of Québec to appeal. Some cases cannot be appealed. For example, you can’t appeal a decision if the claim was for an amount of $7,000 or less.

3. A revision by the Superior Court.

Correction is meant to rectify an error made by the commissioner. For example, the commissioner may have made a calculation error, omitted something, forgotten to sign the decision, or failed to adjudicate (decide) on a part of the application.

You cannot request a correction if:

• you asked the Régie to fix the rent;
  
• your case is under review or appeal;
  
• the commissioner’s decision has been carried out in whole or in part.

To obtain a correction, you must go to the Régie du logement with a certified copy of the decision as quickly as possible. The commissioner may correct the error on the spot. If this cannot be done, you must duly complete an application for correction and pay the fees involved. You will be reimbursed these fees if the commissioner finds that you were right about an error having been made.

When you request the revocation of a decision, you are asking the Régie du logement to cancel its ruling and make a new one. You can apply for revocation if:

• You were prevented from attending the hearing due to fraud, surprise or for any other reason considered sufficient by the Régie. You think that the decision would have been different had you been able to attend;
  
• You were prevented from presenting proof due to fraud, surprise or any other reason considered sufficient by the Régie. You think that the decision would have been different had you been able to present this proof;
  
• The Régie failed to rule on part of the application;
  
• The Régie ruled beyond what was asked for in the application (e.g. the comissioner granted $ 2,000 in damages to the opposing party when she was only asking for $ 1,000 in her application).

Your application for revocation must be made within 10 days from the time:

• you found out about the decision; OR
  
• the reason that was preventing you from coming to the hearing or from presenting your proof ended.

You will have to pay a fee, but it will be reimbursed if the revocation is granted.

Applications for review can only be made in cases that involve fixing the rent. If you are dissatisfied, you can apply for review with the Régie du logement. At least two commissioners will hear your case again. You must apply for review within one month from the date of the decision. You will have to pay certain fees.

In your application, make sure to include all the reasons why you are contesting the initial decision because during the hearing, the commissioners will only listen to arguments listed in the application.

Yes. You must serve the opposing side with a copy when you file an application with the Régie du logement. Serving involves sending a copy of the application to the opposing side so that she may prepare for the hearing.

You can serve by:

• bailiff;
  
• registered mail;
  
• certified mail;
  
• any other means that allows you to prove reception.

Yes, this might be possible. The time limit for contesting a decision before the Régie du logement may be extended by a commissioner at your request if you can reasonably justify the extension you are asking for and if it does not cause any major harm to the other side.

In situations where you cannot apply for correction, revocation, or review of a decision made by a commissioner, you can usually appeal the decision to the Court of Québec.

The right to appeal a commissioner’s decision to the Court of Québec is not automatic. First, you must submit a document asking the court for permission to appeal. This document must be sent to the other party and filed in the office of the court within 30 days of the date the original decision was rendered.

The following decisions cannot be appealed:

• decisions where the sole object of the application is the fixing of rent;
  
• decisions where the sole object of the application is the recovery of a small claim ($ 7,000 or less);
  
• applications concerning the dismemberment of a housing complex, conversion into divided co-ownership, and demolition;
  
• applications requesting authorization to deposit the rent.

At the hearing on appeal before the Court of Québec, the whole case may be heard again. It is also possible that you were only given permission to come before the Court of Québec to argue certain aspects of the commissioner’s decision and not others. In that situation, the hearing will only be about a specific part of the commissioner’s decision. You must present the relevant proof and arguments to the judge.

The legal process before the Court of Quebec is generally more complex and expensive. Do not hesitate to consult a legal professional, if need be.

The Superior Court is given a special power to “superintend and reform” other Quebec courts or tribunals.

Because of this power, it is possible to apply to the Superior Court for revision when you believe that:

• The Commissioner made a decision about something he had no right to judge by law;
  
• There was a great irregularity in the process resulting in injustice;
  
• The Commissioner did something illegal or abused his authority thereby making the hearing a “fraud”. Due to what he said or did, an obvious injustice occurred;

For example, your landlord asks the Rental Board to fix the rent without changing anything else in the lease. The Commissioner decides that the rent increase requested is justified but orders the landlord to pay for heating. Nobody had asked the Commissioner to do that. The landlord can ask the Superior Court to revise the decision on the basis that the landlord had no legal right to make that decision.

The revision process is complicated and may be expensive. You can consult a legal professional to assist you.