Tenants' rights groups are asking the province to reform residential law so that it's harder for landlords to repossess apartments from their renters.

RCLALQ, the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Quebec, said it knows of hundreds of tenants who were recently informed that they will need to find a new place to live next year.

The association said that of the 139 repossession notices brought to them this year, 60 per cent were for tenants who have lived more than ten years in the same home – and almost 40 per cent of those who contacted the group renting the same place for more than 15 years.

Mary Antico is one such tenant, who will need to find a new home for her and her two children after a decade in their Park Extension apartment.

"This has placed me under extreme stress,” said Antico. “The truth is that it's a disaster for my family. I’m in a very vulnerable situation. I’m a single mom, and I have two boys. My youngest son, who is 11, he's severely developmentally disabled.”

She is worried that she will not be able to find an apartment she can afford in the same area.

"I love Park Extension. I know my neighbours. I know everyone on my street, and everyone knows me, and this is very meaningful to me, and so that's a huge loss," said Antico. “I'm really afraid that I will not be able to compete given the current context – and also the loss of my community where I have put down roots.”

Her landlord is turning her triplex into a larger home, something that RCLALQ believes should be illegal.

RCLALQ is asking the provincial government to prohibit the repossession of dwellings to subdivide or expand a property.

It also wants to ban repossessions in areas where the vacancy rate is less than three percent.

RCLALQ said those tenants who are facing apartment repossession pay an average rent of $720 per month.

The group said that many landlords kicking out tenants had owned the building for only a few years. According to its calculations, two out of three landlords repossessing dwellings have owned the property for less than three years.

Quebec law currently states that landlords have the right to repossess a dwelling as long as they give them six months’ notice before the end of their lease – in many cases, that’s Jan. 1 for leases ending in July.

Rental board consultant Ted Wright said while that may be the case tenants should know their rights.

“If they’re just being evicted, then they have to receive some kind of money from the landlord. It depends what the landlord is going to do with the dwelling. If they’re going to make condos, then there are a whole bunch of rules to do with condominium conversion that the landlord may not be able to do it,” he said.

The government said it’s working with the Regie to come up with solutions.