Repossession of rental housing: Your rights as a tenant

The notice of repossession

Your landlord must send you a written notice informing you of their intention to repossess your apartment.

This notice must include:

• The intended date of repossession,
• The name of the person who will live in the apartment,
• Their relationship with the landlord,
• A copy of the text of article 1959.1 of the Civil Code of Québec, which sets out certain rules about repossession and eviction.

Your landlord must send you this notice within a certain timeframe, which varies according to the duration of your lease:

• For a lease of 6 months or less: the notice must be sent 1 month before the end of the lease;
• For a lease of more than 6 months: the notice must be sent 6 months before the end of the lease;
• For a lease of an indeterminate duration: the notice must be sent 6 months before the intended date of repossession.

Therefore, if you have a 12-month lease running from July 1st to June 30th, the notice must be sent by December 31st.

Repossessing a dwelling (Tribunal administratif du logement)

You can accept or refuse

You have one month from the day you receive the notice to accept or refuse the request. If you do not reply, the law considers that you have refused.

Response to a notice of repossession (Tribunal administratif du logement)

If you agree to leave

Before sending your response accepting the repossession, you can try to negotiate with your landlord. You could, for example, agree on a moving date that is more convenient for you, or you could agree on financial compensation.

If you refuse to leave

If you refuse to leave, it’s up to the landlord to take the next steps if they still want to proceed with the repossession. The landlord could try to negotiate with you, for example, by offering you financial compensation to leave.

If you still refuse to leave, the landlord must file an application for repossession at the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL). The TAL will hold a hearing at which it will evaluate whether the application satisfies all the legal requirements to be accepted. If not, the TAL can refuse the application. If the TAL accepts the application, it can add certain conditions, such as obliging your landlord to pay your moving costs.

If you and your landlord never reached an agreement and your landlord did not file an application for repossession at the TAL in the month following your refusal, you can stay in your apartment.

A valuable resource

On the TAL’s website you can consult summaries of decisions concerning repossession. These summaries can help you understand your rights and how the TAL rules in situations similar to yours.