“It's starting to get boring”: Unpaid rent, financial stress for landlords

Unpaid or late rent is a growing problem, according to a Quebec landlord.

“I think it's gotten worse in the last two years. From this year, it is really abuse. »

“I must be around 20, 25% of people who are having trouble making their payments,” estimates Alexander Briand.

He believes the rising cost of living has something to do with it.

“It's starting to get frustrating. As for me, my payments go like this: my mortgage, taxes, insurance are done,” he said, leaving an inquiry at TAL regarding two files he frequently opened for delays.

Financial stress

“Just a tenant, it's not that bad in the building, but right now, [dans un bloc], there are three people I always pay late. I'm still lucky because I have several buildings, but you know, if I had this building, I'd get a lot of repayments back because I couldn't make my payments,” it said, managing 48 apartments.

“It still creates a lot of financial pressure.”

For a building that earns $1,000 a month, after all the payments are made, the monetary impact can be felt quickly.

“Right now, it's not $1,500 rent. It's easy to do the math. “It costs me $500 out of pocket every month when someone doesn't pay,” he says as an example.

This year alone, he estimates he has visited TAL eight times, mainly for cases of unpaid or broken units.

“It's a waste of time and money because right now I've wasted half a day of work coming here,” he said.

Inflation

Another owner met News magazine Traveled to open a file for a tenant who hadn't paid rent in two months.

However, inflation affects landlords' costs just as it affects renters' wallets, she said, preferring to remain anonymous as she made her case legal.

“We have no choice… [d’augmenter les loyers]. »

“We're like everyone else, we have to pay our dues and at some point we don't have enough money to pay the fixed costs. It's still business, want it, don't want it. This is my job. If I don’t grow, I can’t work,” she pleaded.