Tenant groups warned 2026 guidelines would entrench steep rent hikes across Quebec
Tenant advocates in Quebec said the province’s new rent guidelines would lock in another year of sharp increases for households already stretched by the cost of housing.
The Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) set the 2026 base rate used to calculate rent increases at 3.1%, a level tenant groups noted is among the highest in roughly two decades outside the post‑pandemic spike.
Alongside that base rate, new rules allow landlords to add 5% of eligible renovation costs to rents – up from a percentage that has generally hovered near 3% since 2008 – and to pass through property tax and insurance increases that exceed the guideline.
“Without effective controls, we know that the increases actually requested by landlords will be much higher than those provided for in the regulations,” Steve Baird, community organizer at the Regroupement des comités logement et associations des locataires du Québec (RCLALQ), said.
Affordability pressures already mounting
The decision arrived a month after Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that rents “skyrocketed over the past five years,” particularly for units that turned over to new tenants.
Canada’s rental market, long defined by scarcity and bidding wars, shifted in 2025 as vacancy rates for purpose-built rentals rose to 3.1%, up from 2.2% in 2024 and above the national 10‑year average. Yet affordability pressures persisted: average rents for occupied 2‑bedroom units still rose 5.1%, driven in part by higher repricing at turnover.
RCLALQ warned that those dynamics, combined with the new formula, would deepen hardship. “The affordability crisis will continue, with many tenants going deeper into debt and relying more and more on food banks in order to keep their apartments,” community organizer Émile Boucher said, calling for a freeze on rent increases.
For mortgage professionals, the stakes extend beyond the rental sector. Quebec households have seen the share of after‑tax income going to mortgage payments more than double over the past decade, while Montreal’s vacancy rate for purpose‑built rentals remained below 1%.
Average rent hikes on turnover in Montreal approached 19% in 2024, compared with under 5% for renewed leases.
Rights, recourse – and what happens next
RCLALQ stressed that tenants are not obliged to accept every increase proposed. “You have rights: tenants can refuse the increase AND stay in their home,” Baird said, urging households to use the group’s online estimation tool or contact local housing committees for support.
Quebec’s rent framework risks fuelling an “inflationary spiral” in housing costs if guidelines and market pressures move in tandem.
With CMHC still tracking elevated rent‑to‑income ratios and persistent pressure in Montreal’s rental market, the latest TAL decision suggest that how Quebec balanced tenant protection and investment returns would remain a central question for both landlords and lenders in the years ahead.
Make sure to get all the latest news to your inbox on Canada’s mortgage and housing markets by signing up for our free daily newsletter here.
