Quebec Solidaire wants no-pets clauses gone from Quebec leases

Quebec Solidaire is continuing its campaign to eliminate no-pet clauses on residential rental leases.

QS MNAs Manon Masse and Andres Fontecilla were joined by members of the Montreal SPCA on Thursday to announce that the party would table a bill before the end of the session in the national assembly "to allow pets in all Quebec homes."

"Allowing people to keep their pets in their homes is a simple way to take some of the pressure off of tenants as the housing crisis rages on," said Masse.

Members of Quebec Solidaire along with the Montreal SPCA staff want to ban no-pets clauses for residential leases. (Sasha Teman/CTV News)

Montreal SPCA executive director Sophie Gaillard said no-pets clauses lead to a spike in animals being abandoned around the July 1 moving day. She said that nearly an animal per day is left at the Montreal SPCA because a tenant moved and could not bring their animal with them.

"In fact, the difficulty in finding such housing is one of the main reasons why animals are abandoned in shelters," said Gaillard.

Fontecilla said that the clauses make it even harder to find a place to live, particularly when it's become harder and harder to find affordable housing in the city.

"So people have no choice but to give them up in order to find housing. It is unacceptable that thousands of Quebecers have to make this choice when the solution is so simple," he said.

Masse came out in support of the SPCA's "Keep Families Together" campaign that included a petition to abolish no-pet clauses a year ago. The petition garnered more than 33,000 signatures.

She said that for many Quebec pet owners, their animal is essential for their mental health.

• LISTEN on CJAD 800 Radio: Québec Solidaire to introduce bill banning no-pet clauses in residential leases

The Quebec Landlords Association supports no-pet clauses because landlords need to consider the building's upkeep and other occupants' comfort and safety, and some pet owners do not act in the best interest of their pets or their neighbours. 

In reaction, the Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec (CORPIQ) said it was surprised by QS's announcement in a context of a housing shortage.

Spokesperson Marc-André Plante said the fact that the political party "is giving priority to the legislative issue of animals" over the lack of housing units to accommodate all the tenants looking for a roof over their heads. He saud that 65 per cent of current landlords accept, with certain restrictions, the presence of animals.

"CORPIQ is opposed to systematically imposing the right to animals in housing because there are tenants who are inconvenienced by animals and they also have rights," said Plante.

He said he fears the perverse effects of such a bill, which could, among other things, place landlords in the delicate position of arbitrating conflicts between tenants over the presence of an animal.

"What Quebec Solidaire is advocating is to impose, in the 1.5 million dwellings in Quebec, the right to an animal without regard to the fact of offering an ideal environment, as much for the animals as for the tenants as a whole," he continues.

With files from The Canadian Press.