Article 1896 C.c.Q.: Notice of the lowest rent in the past 12 months

At the time of entering into a lease, the lessor shall give a notice to the new lessee, indicating the lowest rent paid in the 12 months preceding the beginning of the lease or the rent fixed by the court during the same period, as the case may be, and containing any other particular prescribed by the regulations of the Government. Where no rent has been paid in the 12 months preceding the beginning of the lease, the notice shall indicate the last rent paid and the date of the payment. If the notice contains a misrepresentation or the lessor knowingly fails to give notice, the lessee may demand that the lessor be condemned to pay punitive damages. The lessor is not bound to give the notice in the case of the lease of an immovable referred to in articles 1955 to 1956.

Civil Code of Québec, art. 1896 C.c.Q.

What this article means

Article 1896 is a new tenant's only legal window onto the rent history of the place they are about to pay for. When the lease is entered into, the landlord must give them a notice stating the lowest rent paid in the preceding 12 months, or the rent fixed by the court during that period. In practice this is section G of the mandatory lease form.

Bill 31 (2024, chapter 2) attached a sanction that did not exist before: a misrepresentation in the notice, or a knowing failure to give it, opens the door to punitive damages. It is the main rent-transparency lever added in 2024, at a time when public debate was calling for a mandatory rent registry.

The article works in tandem with article 1950, which lets a new tenant have the rent fixed by the tribunal if they pay more than the lowest rent of the preceding 12 months. The link between them is decisive: the normal window is 10 days from entering into the lease, but it stretches to two months from the start of the lease where the notice was never given, and to two months from learning the truth where the notice contained a misrepresentation. Leaving section G blank does not extinguish the remedy, it lengthens it.

What it means for you

If you are a tenant

Check section G of your lease before signing, and keep a copy. If the rent asked exceeds the lowest rent of the past 12 months, you can have the rent fixed by the Tribunal (art. 1950 C.C.Q.).

If section G is blank, don't conclude you have lost your remedy: the opposite is true. The window goes from 10 days to two months from the start of the lease. And if the figure written there was false, time runs from the moment you find out, on top of the punitive damages you can claim.

If you are a landlord

Fill in section G, accurately, at the time the lease is entered into. Since Bill 31, a misrepresentation or a deliberate omission exposes you to punitive damages, on top of the tenant's rent-fixing application.

Leaving the box blank is not a strategy: it lengthens the window the tenant has to challenge, from 10 days to two months. The obligation does not apply to dwellings referred to in articles 1955 to 1956 (notably certain new buildings).

Related articles

• Article 1941 C.c.Q.: Automatic Lease Renewal
• Article 1942 C.c.Q.: Notice of Modification to the Lease
• Article 1945 C.c.Q.: Tenant's Deadline to Respond to a Notice of Modification
• Article 1947 C.c.Q.: Having the Rent Set by the Tribunal
• Article 1950 C.c.Q.: New Tenant: Right to Have the Rent Set
• Article 1953 C.c.Q.: Criteria for Setting the Rent
• Article 1955 C.c.Q.: New Building Under 5 Years Old: Clause F
• Article 1946 C.c.Q.: Tenant's Right to End the Lease When No Notice of Modification Was Received
• Article 1906 C.c.Q.: Rent Adjustment Clauses Without Effect
• Article 1938 C.c.Q.: Right to Stay for a Spouse, a Relative, or After a Death