What the TAL does
The TAL is Quebec's specialized housing tribunal. It hears applications from both tenants and landlords: setting the rent, repairs, rent reductions, ending a lease, damages and unpaid rent. It also publishes the official lease form, model notices and a rent increase calculation tool.
For general questions, call the TAL at 514 873-2245 from Montreal, Laval or Longueuil, or 1 800 683-2245 from anywhere else in Quebec.
The lease is a mandatory form
Since September 1, 1996, the TAL's lease form has been mandatory for every new residential lease, whether you rent a room, an apartment, a condo or a house. The TAL also offers an official electronic lease you can fill in online.
Your landlord must give you a copy of the lease within 10 days after it is concluded. If the lease is verbal, the landlord must give you a form called the "Écrit obligatoire" (mandatory writing) within the same 10 days.
There is no cooling-off period. Once you sign, you cannot cancel the lease a few days later. Read the whole form first, especially the parts on included services (heating, hot water, appliances) and section G on the rent.
- Section G: the landlord writes the lowest rent paid in the 12 months before your lease starts, or the rent set by the TAL in that period.
- If you pay more than that amount, you can ask the TAL to set your rent within 10 days after the lease is concluded.
- If the landlord did not give you this notice when you signed, the deadline becomes two months from the start of the lease.
- If the notice contains a false statement, you have two months from the day you learn about it.
- For leases signed on or after February 21, 2024, if the notice contains a false statement or the landlord knowingly fails to give it, you can also ask for punitive damages.
Security deposits and paying rent
A Quebec landlord can only require the first month of rent in advance. They cannot require any extra amount as a security deposit or otherwise, and they cannot require a deposit for keys or furniture. A lease clause that calls for a deposit has no effect.
The TAL has accepted a deposit that a tenant offered truly freely. If you paid one under pressure, for example because you were afraid of losing the apartment, it is not a voluntary deposit.
A landlord also cannot require post-dated cheques as a condition of signing the lease. You can still choose to pay that way if you agree to it.
- You have the right to a receipt for every rent payment.
- The TAL recommends keeping proof of payment for 3 years.
- A regular cheque is usually accepted, but the landlord does not have to accept one unless you agreed on it.
Rent increases and lease renewal
If you receive no notice of change, your lease renews automatically on the same terms. You do not need to do anything. Quebec has no fixed cap on increases: at renewal, the landlord can ask for the increase they consider fair, and you can refuse it.
The increase notice must be in writing and sent within a window that depends on the length of your lease. A notice sent outside that window is not valid and you can ignore it.
If you refuse, you do not have to move out. The landlord then has one month after receiving your refusal to ask the TAL to set the rent. If they do not apply, the lease renews at the same rent and on the same terms. For notices given on or after January 1, 2026, the TAL uses a new calculation method and publishes a 2026 calculation tool (in French) to help both sides reach an agreement.
Exception: in a building built or converted within the last 5 years, or in a housing co-operative, a tenant who refuses a change must leave at the end of the lease if this restriction is stated in section F of the lease. For a lease signed on or after February 21, 2024 in a building ready for occupancy from that date, the landlord must also write in the lease the maximum rent they can charge in the 5 years after the building was ready; otherwise they cannot use this restriction against you.
- Write down the date you received the notice.
- Reply in writing within one month of that date. The TAL provides a model tenant reply form.
- Keep proof that you sent your reply.
- If you do not reply within that month, you are deemed to have accepted the increase.
| Lease type | Landlord's notice |
|---|---|
| 12 months or more | 3 to 6 months before the lease ends |
| Less than 12 months | 1 to 2 months before the lease ends |
| No fixed end date | 1 to 2 months before the proposed change |
| Room | 10 to 20 days before the lease ends or the change |
Repairs and housing unfit to live in
Your landlord must hand over the unit in good repair and fit to live in, then maintain it for the whole lease. Repairs such as a blocked sink or toilet are the landlord's cost unless they prove you caused the problem. Heating must be provided as soon as the weather calls for it; there is no fixed start date.
Report any defect to the landlord, ideally in writing. You cannot hold back rent, or do the work yourself and deduct it, without the TAL's permission. The only exception is an urgent and necessary repair when you could not reach the landlord. If nothing is done, the TAL can order the work, reduce the rent, award damages or end the lease.
You can refuse to move into a unit that is unfit for habitation; the lease then ends. If a unit becomes unfit during your lease and you leave, notify the landlord before you go or within 10 days after. With that notice, you do not owe rent for the period the unit is unfit. Municipalities can also act and impose fines.
What a landlord can ask you, and discrimination
A landlord can ask for your name and current address, and can ask to see a piece of ID. They cannot photocopy it, photograph it or keep it. They can ask for your previous landlords' contact details. A credit check is not prohibited by law, but it needs your consent, and your name, address and date of birth are usually enough. The Commission des droits de la personne strongly discourages credit checks and says requiring them systematically goes against the Quebec Charter of human rights and freedoms.
Quebec's human rights commission (Commission des droits de la personne) says that, as a general rule, a landlord cannot require your social insurance number, health insurance number or passport number, your bank account number, pay slips or employer details. A landlord cannot reject your application because you do not give those numbers.
If you have no rental or credit history because you just arrived in Quebec, the landlord must let you show you can pay the rent in other ways: references, proof of income, regularly paid bills. They can ask for a guarantor only if you cannot show you are able to pay. Systematically refusing immigrants or refugees without checking their ability to pay is discrimination.
- Protected grounds in housing include race, colour, ethnic or national origin, religion, language, age, pregnancy, civil status (having children), disability and social condition.
- Discrimination complaints: Commission des droits de la personne, 1 800 361-6477. Complaints are confidential and have no effect on an immigration file.
- Requests for unnecessary personal information: you can complain to the Commission d'accès à l'information, 1 888 528-7741.
July 1 and finding an apartment
Many Quebec households move around July 1. About 40 housing search help services (SARL) operate across Quebec; they are free and open to every renter household regardless of income.
In 2026, these services were open 7 days a week from June 20 to July 5, except June 24, and housing offices offered emergency services over the same period. To find the service for your area: Québec.ca/RechercheLogement or 1 800 463-4315, then press 1 twice.
If you want to leave at the end of your lease and your landlord sent you no notice, you must tell the landlord in writing within the same windows as a notice of change. Do not sign a new lease before checking when your current one ends.
How to file an application with the TAL
Before filing, try to settle the problem with your landlord in writing and keep every message, photo and receipt. They will be your evidence.
Fees apply and depend on the type of application; the TAL publishes them on its website.
- Fill in the application form online on the TAL website. You can pay online, or print and sign the form and mail it with a certified cheque or money order, or file it at a TAL office.
- Notify the other party of your application: by bailiff, registered mail, hand delivery through a courier service, or a technological method.
- File the proof of notification and the list of exhibits within 45 days after you filed the application. Without them, the TAL can refuse to schedule a hearing.
- Prepare for the hearing with your evidence and any witnesses.
Common newcomer mistakes
Most problems come from missed deadlines or payments that were never required. A few habits prevent most of them.
- Paying a security deposit or several months in advance because you were told it is "normal".
- Missing the one-month deadline to refuse a rent increase.
- Believing that refusing an increase means you have to move.
- Holding back rent to force repairs without TAL permission.
- Handing a landlord a copy of your passport or your social insurance number.
- Ignoring section G of the lease and the 10-day deadline to challenge rent that is too high.