Leaving your residence

Unless you have an agreement with your landlord, you cannot leave your unit before the end of your lease. However, there are a few situations where you can end (terminate) your lease:

• You are moving into low-income housing.
• You can no longer occupy your unit because of a disability.
• You are moving to a Residential and Long-Term Care Centre (CHSLD) or other accommodation that provides services and care for the elderly.
• Your safety or that of your child is threatened by domestic or sexual violence.

In all these cases, you must send a notice to your landlord with proof of the situation you are experiencing. For example, if your lease is for a year, it is terminated two months after you send your notice. A shorter or indefinite lease is terminated one month after you send the notice.

You do not need to file a complaint with the police if you want to leave because of domestic or sexual violence. However, for information on the steps to take and resources to help you, you can consult the following websites: Éducaloi or Ministère de la Justice du Québec.

• If your landlord says you must move out for major work that cannot be done while you are living there, they must provide you with 120 days’ notice on a Form N13 from the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB).
• You may challenge the notice if you believe it to be untrue, move out with 10 days’ notice, protect your right to move back once the work has been completed, have your landlord offer compensation and/or seek legal counsel.

• Unless an agreement can be reached with the landlord, you will have to move out as planned. If they agree, make sure to have a written agreement.

You can leave your home if it becomes "unfit for habitation." A dwelling is unfit for habitation if its condition constitutes a severe health hazard to the occupants or the public.

If you abandon your home for this reason, you must notify your landlord within ten days of leaving. You do not have to pay rent for an unfit dwelling unless you are the reason it is in that condition.

To sublet or assign your lease, you must :

• notify your landlord of your intention,
• provide your landlord with the name and address of the person to whom you wish to sublet or assign your lease,
• obtain your landlord's consent.

Your landlord must have a serious reason to refuse. For example, if the person you wish to sublet or assign your lease does not have the financial means to pay the rent. Your landlord must notify you of their refusal and reasons by 15 days after receiving your notice. After that time, your landlord is considered to have agreed. 

Transferring your lease releases you from your obligations to your landlord. This is not the case if you sublet your unit.

If you sublet, you are still responsible for paying the rent and keeping the dwelling in good condition, among other things. For instance, if the person you sublet to breaks things in the dwelling, you may be responsible for compensating your landlord.

Your landlord cannot raise the rent because you are subletting or assigning your lease. It is the same contract that continues.

As per the usual procedure, your landlord can only increase the rent when you renew the lease.