The Renoviction Moratorium (Bill 65): What You Can and Can No Longer Do in Your North Shore Plex

ImmoMulti — a direct buyer of multi-unit properties on the North Shore — works each week with plex owners who have an ambitious renovation project… blocked by the law. Since June 2024, Bill 65 has imposed a moratorium on certain types of eviction in every rental building in Quebec, including duplexes, triplexes and multi-unit buildings on the North Shore (Terrebonne, Laval, Repentigny, Saint-Jérôme, Mascouche, Mirabel). If you were planning to subdivide a large unit, merge two of them, or convert your income property to commercial use, you are legally blocked until 2027 — and possibly beyond. This guide explains what you can and can no longer do, and when selling becomes the most sensible decision for a North Shore plex owner.

What is the renoviction moratorium and where does it come from?

The term renoviction refers to the practice of evicting a tenant under the pretext of carrying out renovations in their unit. In Quebec, this practice was already illegal before 2024: a plex owner cannot terminate a tenant's lease simply to paint walls or renovate a kitchen. But until 2024, certain forms of eviction for structural work remained possible: subdividing a unit into several, carrying out a substantial enlargement, or changing the building's use.

Bill 65, assented to on June 6, 2024 by Quebec's National Assembly, suspended these options for a three-year period. It applies to all rental dwellings in Quebec, with no geographic exception — whether your plex is in Laval, Terrebonne, Repentigny, Saint-Jérôme or Blainville on the North Shore, you are subject to it just as much as a Montreal owner.

The law provides an automatic exit clause: if the average vacancy rate for rental housing reaches 3% across all Quebec urban centres of 10,000 inhabitants and more — according to data published by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) — the moratorium ends before the three-year term. Current CMHC data remains well below this threshold for the vast majority of Quebec rental markets, including the North Shore.

Source: Radio-Canada — "Quebec wants to ban evictions until 2027" ; Tribunal administratif du logement — Eviction notice for subdivision, enlargement or change of use

What Bill 65 concretely prohibits in your North Shore plex

The moratorium suspends three specific types of eviction. Concretely, for the duration of the moratorium, you cannot evict your tenant for:

• Subdivision of a dwelling: splitting a large apartment into two or more separate units to increase the number of dwellings in your income property. For example, turning a 5½ into two 2½ units.
• Substantial enlargement of a dwelling: merging two occupied units to enlarge one of them — typically to create a larger dwelling to rent out or live in.
• Change of use: converting a rental dwelling to commercial, institutional or other non-residential use (e.g., office, gallery, warehouse). This operation also requires municipal permits independently of the TAL.

It is crucial to clearly distinguish evictions prohibited by the moratorium from repossession of a dwelling for personal or family use, which is not covered by Bill 65. A North Shore plex owner can still repossess a unit to house themselves or a close relative — subject to the usual TAL rules (6-month notice, indemnity of 3 months' rent and reasonable moving expenses). This type of repossession has in fact tripled in Quebec over the past 12 years, as highlighted in our article on repossessions that have tripled on the North Shore.

Major work: what you can still do with your occupied plex

Bill 65 blocks permanent evictions for structural work, but it does not affect major work — that is, work that requires a temporary relocation of the tenant without terminating the lease. This distinct regime is defined by the Tribunal administratif du logement and continues to apply normally during the moratorium.

Concretely, if you must carry out work that makes the unit temporarily uninhabitable (foundation replacement, complete plumbing or electrical overhaul, etc.), you can ask the tenant to leave for the duration of the work. The tenant nonetheless keeps their lease and their right of return to the unit once the work is finished, at the same rent. It is you, the multi-unit property owner, who must cover the reasonable temporary relocation costs.

• The tenant receives appropriate notice and can contest the duration or necessity of the work before the TAL.
• If the tenant chooses to terminate their lease rather than relocate, you will owe them an indemnity.
• You must inform the tenant of their right of return in writing, in the forms prescribed by law.

Source: Tribunal administratif du logement — Major work ; Éducaloi — Eviction from a dwelling

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Eviction for work vs. major work: the essential difference

When the renoviction moratorium pushes you to sell your multi-unit property

For many plex owners on the North Shore, the Bill 65 moratorium has fundamentally changed their value-add plan. If your strategy was to subdivide a large unit to create an additional one, to convert your income property to a condominium or to change its use, you are blocked — potentially until June 2027, or even beyond if the government chooses to extend the moratorium.

Several concrete situations signal that selling is often more advantageous than waiting:

• Subdivision project: You wanted to convert a triplex into a quadruplex by subdividing a large unit. Blocked until 2027. If you sell now, you realize the current value of the triplex without waiting — a buyer with a longer horizon can factor the conversion premium into their own offer.
• Change-of-use project: You were considering converting the ground floor into a commercial space. You cannot evict your tenant for now. The potential commercial value is invisible to the ordinary buyer, but a specialized buyer will know how to price it fairly.
• Low current profitability: If your North Shore multi-unit property is barely profitable in its current configuration and the structural renovation project was the only path to a better return, the moratorium cancels your plan B. In this context, selling can free up capital to reinvest in a higher-performing asset.
• Extension uncertainty: The government may decide to extend the moratorium beyond 2027 if Quebec's rental market does not ease. Waiting 3 years only to maybe wait longer is not a strategy.

Selling your North Shore plex as-is: often a simpler path

Contrary to what many owners believe, selling a plex with tenants in place is not an obstacle to a fast and fair sale. ImmoMulti buys multi-unit properties on the North Shore in exactly this state: tenants in place, no prior renovation, no broker commission, with an offer within 48 hours.

For an owner whose structural renovation project is blocked by the moratorium, selling offers several clear advantages:

• You have nothing to evict: tenants stay in their units — it is the buyer who manages the landlord-tenant relationship from the moment of possession.
• You avoid TAL proceedings: no eviction process, no risk of contestation, no unexpected legal fees.
• You free up capital now: rather than waiting until 2027 in uncertainty, you cash in the current value of your income property and can reinvest it.
• You sell at a fair price: a knowledgeable buyer like ImmoMulti correctly values a multi-unit property on the North Shore based on its real income, not on a hypothetical post-renovation value.

For owners whose tenants have become difficult to manage — whatever the reason — our complete guide on selling an income property with difficult tenants covers all your options. And if you are in an urgent situation (estate, separation, job relocation), our page on selling an income property quickly details how a sale can close in 30 to 60 days on the North Shore.