A lease is a contract to rent a dwelling that is signed between a tenant (lessee) and a landlord (lessor or owner). In it, the landlord agrees to provide the tenant with the peaceable enjoyment of the apartment in exchange for a rent.

A lease can have either a fixed duration (as in a twelve-month lease) or an indefinite duration (as in a rent-by-month lease). Fixed duration leases expire when the term has expired. Indefinite leases expire when either the tenant or landlord chooses to resiliate (cancel) the lease.

The lease and building by-laws should be written in French. However, if you and the landlord agree, you can draw up the lease in another language.

The lease of a dwelling, or residential lease, is a specific kind of lease. In fact, several provisions in the law apply specifically to this type of lease. A residential lease is not merely the typical apartment lease, in which you rent an apartment in a residential area. Residential leases can arise in several situations.

For example, a residential lease is signed when you rent a room, a mobile home, or even the land on which to place a mobile home.

Residential leases, however, are not used in the following situations:

• the lease of a room in a hotel;
  
• a lease for a room in a health and social services establishment;
  
• a lease in a room within the owner’s principal residence, where the room does not have its own independent entrance or sanitary installations;
  
• the lease of a dwelling as a vacation resort;
  
• the lease of a dwelling in which more than one-third of the floor area is used for purposes other than living space.

Any notice concerning the lease, except for a landlord’s notice to gain access to the dwelling, must:

• be made in writing;
  
• be sent to the address shown on the lease or to the tenant’s new address;
  
• be written in the same language as the lease;
  
• conform to the rules prescribed by regulation.

Any notice that fails to respect these conditions is invalid. It is as though the notice was never sent. For more information, please see the website of the Régie du logement to see sample notices.

Yes. A building’s by-laws are considered part of the lease; as such, the landlord is bound to give the tenant a copy of these by-laws before the lease is signed. Most often, by-laws address the enjoyment, use, and maintenance of individual dwellings and common areas.

These kinds of regulations are important, especially where they prohibit pets in your dwelling. Only the lease and the by-laws indicate whether or not you have a right to keep pets in your dwelling (see the Infosheet entitled Pets and dwellings).

Yes. The landlord must give you a copy of the lease within ten days of entering into it. As of September 1, 1996, the lease form created by the Régie du logement is obligatory. It must be used for any new lease agreement, whether it is for a room, apartment, condominium, or a house.

If you are renewing your lease and you and the landlord have agreed to modify it, the landlord must give you a written notice listing the changes before the lease's renewal.

Yes. At the time you are signing a new lease, the landlord must give you a notice that shows the lowest amount of rent paid in the twelve months preceding the start of your lease or the rent fixed by the Régie du logement.

The landlord does not need to divulge this information in cases where the leased dwelling is:

• a housing co-operative,
  
• low-cost housing,
  
• a new building,
  
• or a building whose destination (use) has changed.

If you are a new tenant or subletting, and you are paying more rent than the rent paid in the twelve months prior to your lease, you can ask the Régie du logement to fix the amount of rent you should pay. However, this request must be made:

• within ten days of signing the lease;
  
• within two months of the conclusion of the lease, if you have not received the notice indicating the rent paid in the previous twelve months;
  
• within two months from the day you discover that the landlord made a false statement in his notice concerning the rent paid in the previous twelve months.

In a lease, you and the landlord agree on matters such as rent payments, the use of certain parts of the property (e.g., parking spaces), and any work to be carried out (e.g., general repairs, painting).

However, no clause in your lease agreement may contradict the mandatory provisions on residential leases. Any clauses that do not adhere to the mandatory rules will be of no effect, which means they will be treated as though they never existed.

Here are some clauses that, if written in a lease, are invalid:

• a clause that limits the landlord’s responsibilities or releases the landlord from all responsibility concerning the dwelling and makes you responsible for damages that are not your fault;
  
• a clause that replaces the presumption of consent to the assignment of the lease, which is set out in the law, by a presumption of refusal;
  
• a clause that tries to modify your rights because the number of occupants in your dwelling increased during the term of the lease;
  
• a clause that states that you must pay the full amount of the term of your lease if you fail to make a payment;
  
• a clause that states that your landlord can adjust the rent during the term of your lease where you have a fixed-term lease of twelve months or less.

Yes. The occupation of a dwelling with the landlord’s consent creates a “lease by sufferance.” Such a lease is valid and creates more or less the same rights and obligations as a written lease. Moreover, if the lease is for an indefinite duration (there is no agreement with the landlord about when the lease will end or be renewed), it can be resiliated (cancelled) by the tenant upon one month’s notice.

It is important to remember that this is not the case for a fixed duration lease, which must be respected until it ends, except for in situations set out by law or with the landlord’s consent. To find out more, read our Infosheet entitled “The resiliation of a lease by a tenant.”

No. The right to maintain occupancy continues to apply in favour of the tenant who respects his obligations, even if the building’s owner changes.

However, the new owner can require the tenant to leave if she wants to subdivide, demolish, or enlarge the dwelling, or if she wants to change its destination (its use). She can also take back the dwelling if she wants to live there herself or if she wants to house certain family members there. This may give the tenant a right to some type of compensation. To find out more, read our Infosheet entitled “Repossession of a dwelling and eviction”.

Apart from these situations, nothing prevents a landlord from offering a tenant money to renounce her right to maintain occupancy and require her to find a new dwelling. The tenant is free to accept or reject such an offer.