Montreal is tightening the screws on owners who poorly maintain their rental properties, Valérie Plante assured Thursday, following a “blitz” of inspections.
City officials visited 91 buildings with more than 100 units this spring, finding about a thousand problems. Only six fines have been distributed so far, a figure which is expected to increase if certain requested fixes are not carried out quickly.
“We are increasing the pressure,” said the mayor.
“We wanted to send a very strong message that we were going to pursue the owners,” she continued. “The majority of landlords are very good landlords, there are a few you see in the papers a lot. We know these people, we are going to follow them. And we will also start to pursue those who slip through the cracks. »
This increase will make it possible to carry out more preventive inspections, without complaints from tenants, indicated the elected official responsible for Housing, Benoit Dorais.
“If we see very serious infractions right from the start in preventive inspections: we immediately [give] a notice of infraction. That’s very important,” he said, still in connection with the City of Montreal’s tougher stance on unsanitary buildings. “In the case of less serious problems, the list of fixes to be made “is quickly sent to the owner and then we actively put ourselves – I would say – on their back. We’re going to want everything to be fixed within a month.”
“You are going to see a lot more work [related to] unsanitary conditions that we would not have detected because people did not complain. And no more tickets,” Dorais said.