Moving Winnipeg to Montreal

1. Sizes of apartments in Montreal with their specific numbers:

The size of your apartment, house required depends on the size of your family, your household baggage and also your community relationship. Because finding an apartment sometimes seems very confusing to me, I still have nostalgia for my first apartment search. When the owner showed me an apartment the size of 11/2. At the time, I just wondered, “what is this 11/2”, no doubt many of you have information on this particular size of apartments. But I want to share my personal experience on apartment sizes for your convenience.

11/2: this is a one-room studio apartment with separate kitchen and bathroom.

21/2: It consists of a living room and a bedroom. It also has a separate kitchen and bathroom. In most cases, the two rooms are not physically separated by a wall.

31/2: it includes a private living room with separate bedroom. In this type of apartment the kitchen also has a separate non-adjoining part with living room.

+41/2: these types of apartments consist of a living room, two separate bedrooms and a kitchen while the toilets are adjoining.

Thus, with the increase in the first number, the number of chambers increases.

2. Requirements for obtaining an apartment:

This is very important and most tenants are unaware of the official documents you need to get an apartment, house or apartment in Montreal. These are basically your personal identity information documents. According to the law, it is legal for the landlord to request these documents from his tenants.

These documents include

Your driver’s license.
Social insurance/health card
You may need to show these documents to the landlord. You should be aware that you cannot ask to hand over these photocopies of documents to the owner because the laws of Montreal do not allow it.

3. Contact details of your current/previous owner:

The owner may ask you for the contact details of your current/previous owner. It is only required for work reference. The owner can contact your last owner and ask you about your behavior and payment attitude for his reference and safety against any kind of scam.

Credit report: This is your bank account statement or your job offer/appointment letter and it can also be your work information. The landlord actually wants to make sure that you are a seasoned and long-lasting tenant for him before you rent his apartment and that you can pay his rent on time.

4. What the landlord cannot ask you:

Some of the documents that are your personal property and your landlord cannot ask you to submit these photocopies of papers. These are

Your health card/social insurance number.
your passport
Your driver’s license number

5. Not Paying “Research Fees”:

Many of you have experienced this when looking for a new apartment. You are a student or a family member. You go to that great location area of ​​the city of Montreal like Plataea, the McGill ghetto or the downtown area. Yu may ask for a sum of money called a “finder’s fee” by previous tenants. He can be paid hundreds of dollars as fees or collateral to secure that apartment or you have to pay him for furniture or other things they want to leave you.

Some of the precedents can be very simple and say, “Well, we paid the search costs for this apartment, so you should have”. But it doesn’t matter if the previous family paid that fee, it doesn’t require you to pay that particular fee as well because in most places in Montreal there is no tracing fee is essential for get an apartment.

6. Ask how much the last tenants paid:

When finalizing a house or apartment of your choice, you may notice that the landlord has asked you for an overvaluation of his apartment. So don’t panic, it is legal to ask the landlord to show the last contract or credit report of his previous tenants. From this report, you can determine if the rate is justified or if it is higher than the assigned increment rate. What’s more, it will also end your confusion about the price.

You can also consult the standard rate of apartments for rent by the local government of Quebec City.

7. Duration of the lease:

Typically, most landlords rent out their apartment on a yearly basis with standard building usage rules. By law, any type of rental agreement is legal in Montreal. It is not binding on you or the landlord cannot force you to sign a one-year rental agreement.

If you need to stay for a short period, you can make an agreement with the owner on a quarterly basis. it can also be month-to-month which suits your budget more and is convenient for you and your family.