Apartment hunter, apartment hunted

>> Competition between home-seekers is fierce on the Plateau, and area landlords are taking advantage

by PHILIP PREVILLE

This past Saturday, a Plateau-area landlord held first-come-first-served visits for an apartment on Marie-Anne near Christophe-Colomb, beginning at 2 p.m.

At 1:15 p.m., there were already half a dozen people waiting in line to see it. By 2 p.m., there were more than 20. And when she insisted upon letting people in one-by-one, she was quickly faced with an insurrection from her prospective tenants: they insisted upon being let in all at once, because they had other apartments to see after this one. She refused, leaving those in line to either wait or give up and move on.

The scene illustrates just how much power landlords have over tenants these days--particularly in the Plateau area. While Montreal's overall vacancy rate remains around 7 per cent, the vacancy rate in the Plateau dropped below 3 per cent this year.

For those few remaining vacancies, the competition among renters is cut-throat. Meanwhile, landlords are the beneficiaries of the mayhem: they are picking and choosing their tenants carefully, and their application forms often demand information which, legally, they are not allowed to request.

Deadly SIN

Landlords' forms often request the applicant's date of birth, Social Insurance Number, driver's license number, Medicare card number, credit card number, income, and bank account number--all of which tenants have no obligation to provide.

Providing your date of birth will allow a landlord to check your previous criminal record. And, armed with only your SIN and bank account numbers, a landlord can find out your complete credit history.

"Landlords are allowed to ask for your employer's name and address, your bank's address and your previous landlord's name and address," says longtime housing activist Arnold Bennett, who runs a housing hotline. "Beyond that, tenants don't have to provide any further information."

While many housing advocacy groups treat housing strictly as a human-rights issue, Bennett explains that, for the most part, housing is still a private business. "If a landlord is going to sign a contract with you, they have the right to verify your ability to pay and if you bounce cheques regularly.

"But they can find that out with a couple of phone calls. And they have no business looking into your driving record, your criminal record, your bank balance or your credit card debt. That's the only reason they will ask for the additional information."

Giuliano D'Andrea, a Montreal landlord, says he takes the legal route: he goes down to the Régie du logement, located in the Olympic Village, to see if his applicants have given their previous landlords any trouble. "They keep all complaints from the past two years on file," D'Andrea says. "And it goes both ways. Applicants can check their landlord's track records as well, so it's a fair system."

Jacked-up rents

Many landlords are also requesting a non-refundable deposit equal to the first month's rent, which is legal in most cases. Most demand a deposit at the time you sign the lease, but other, less scrupulous landlords will ask for the deposit along with your preliminary application--and will cash it right away. Even if you find a better place two days later, you've lost your deposit.

"In that case, you can't even appeal to the Régie," says Bennett. "You haven't signed a lease, so the Régie has no power over the situation. You have to take it to small claims court. Never sign a cheque unless you're sure you want the place."

And, says Bennett, some landlords also increase their rents beyond the limit allowed by the Régie. (The maximum increase for 1999 is 0.8 per cent if the renter pays the heat or 1.6 per cent if the landlord pays the heat, plus $4.50 per month for every $1,000 of repairs completed in the past year.) "Landlords are supposed to mark the previous year's rent on the lease. If they don't, you have two months to appeal the increase--but you have to find out what the previous year's rent was, which means you have to do the detective work."

Last word of advice: always talk to the outgoing tenant before you sign a lease.