Demoviction in Laval: the October 6 by-law and your recourse at the TAL

Until October 6, 2026, the City of Laval could not refuse the demolition of an ordinary rental building. It only reviewed buildings of heritage interest. Since the evening of Tuesday, October 6, buildings of 10 units or more go before its demolition committee.

In short: an eviction notice for demolition in Laval is contested in two places, and the two clocks do not run at the same speed. Ten days to write to the City Clerk's Office if your building has 10 units or more. One month to file an application with the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) in every other case. The compensation is owed to you even if you do not contest.

Already looking for a replacement apartment? See our heated and lit 4½ for rent in Laval, at 1700 boul. Lévesque Est

We also have 4½ for rent in Vimont, at 22-32 boul. Saint-Elzéar Ouest.

Demoviction, renoviction, repossession: three words, three situations

The three words travel together in the news. It is the reason written on your notice that decides what recourse you have.

According to Éducaloi, renovating an apartment is not a valid ground for eviction. A notice that speaks only of work is not a demolition notice.

What the October 6, 2026 by-law changes in Laval

The by-law on the demolition of buildings has existed in Laval since 2019, but it only covered buildings of heritage interest. A 16-unit rental building was therefore reviewed by nobody at city hall.

According to the City of Laval, in October 2026 the municipal council widened the by-law to cover every building of 10 units or more. Three things change for a tenant:

• The developer must tell the City how many tenants will be evicted, what rents they pay and what rents it intends to ask for afterwards.
• The City assesses the vulnerability of the tenants concerned before it issues a demolition permit.
• The committee can impose rehousing conditions when it authorizes a project to reuse the land.

The limit, said plainly. Under 10 units, nothing has changed. A landlord who demolishes their own non-heritage 6-unit building does not go before the committee, and the City cannot stop them. Your recourse is then the TAL, and only the TAL.

First door: the City of Laval's demolition committee

This door opens if your building has 10 units or more, or if it is of heritage interest. Here is the order of things, as the Government of Québec describes it in its guide on the demolition of buildings.

The committee. Three members of the municipal council, appointed by the council.

The sign and the public notice. As soon as a demolition application is filed, the committee has a sign posted on the building, in plain view, and publishes a public notice. The applicant must also notify each tenant.

Your ten days. Anyone who objects has ten days to file a written objection with reasons at the City Clerk's Office. The deadline runs from the publication of the public notice or, if there is none, from the posting of the sign. Éducaloi counts it instead from the day you receive the demolition notice. On both readings it is ten days: write right away.

What your letter contains. The address of the building as the subject line, your name, your address, a phone number or an email, and your reasons. You do not need a lawyer to write it.

The decision. The committee must read the objections it receives, and its sittings are public. It weighs the condition of the building, the cost of restoring it, the planned use of the land and, for a residential building, the harm caused to the tenants and the housing needs of the area. If it authorizes, it can impose conditions, including the rehousing of every tenant.

The second round. Anyone can ask the municipal council to review the committee's decision, within 30 days. The council then takes up the whole file again, and that is your last recourse on the municipal side.

Second door: the Tribunal administratif du logement

When no municipal by-law applies, it is the TAL that authorizes or refuses the demolition. In Laval, that is the case for buildings of fewer than 10 units.

Your deadline is one month, from the day you receive the notice. According to the Tribunal administratif du logement, a tenant who does not apply to the tribunal within that month is deemed to have agreed to leave on the date written on the notice. Silence counts as a yes.

What the tribunal checks. It authorizes the demolition only if it is justified in the public interest and in the interest of the parties, with fair and reasonable conditions if need be.

Three months of protection. If the demolition is authorized, you stay until the end of your lease, and for at least three months after the date of the decision. It is the later of the two dates that counts.

If the work never starts. The authorization has no effect and your lease renews if you still live in the apartment. An announced demolition is not a demolition done.

The forms are on the TAL website, forms section. For a specific situation, consult the Tribunal administratif du logement.

Which door to knock on, and how to know in two minutes

Count the mailboxes in your building. That number decides your deadline.

Tip: write the date you received it on the notice itself, in pen, the day it arrives. Keep the envelope. Both deadlines run from that date and it is the first thing you will be asked.

What your landlord owes you, whether you contest or not

The compensation is not a prize for losing your case. It is owed because you are leaving.

Source: Éducaloi and the Tribunal administratif du logement, October 2026. The TAL page still words the compensation as three months of rent plus moving costs.

The advance notice is set out too: six months before the end of a lease longer than six months, one month before the end of a shorter lease, six months before the planned date for a lease of indeterminate term.

Against our own interest, since we are landlords too: three months of rent does not pay for a move in today's market. The rent of the apartment you find will almost always be higher than the one you are leaving. Treat the compensation as a cushion, not as a budget.

Why the Québec moratorium does not protect you

Since June 6, 2024, Québec has banned, for three years, evictions to subdivide an apartment, enlarge it substantially or change its use. The moratorium therefore runs until June 2027.

Demolition is not on the list. The Tribunal administratif du logement confirms it and Éducaloi writes it in black and white: eviction to demolish the apartment is excluded from the moratorium, as are notices sent before May 22, 2024.

That is the hole the Laval by-law of October 6 is trying to plug, at the scale of one city, for buildings of 10 units or more.

Eviction notice for demolition in Laval: what to do in the first ten days

1. Date the notice and keep the envelope. Everything starts there.
2. Count the units in the building. Ten or more: it is the City Clerk's Office. Fewer than ten: it is the TAL.
3. Look for the sign on the building and the City's public notice. They give the date that starts your ten days.
4. Write your objection, even a short one. Filed on time, it is worth more than a good letter sent on the eleventh day.
5. Talk to your neighbours. Several objections about the same building weigh more than one, and the committee must read them all.
6. Call a Laval housing committee. These organizations help build a tenant's file free of charge.

Three practical tips

• Do not sign any departure agreement in the first few days. A signed agreement counts as giving up your recourse, and the compensation was owed to you anyway.
• Ask in writing for the number of the demolition application. The file is public and the written answer serves as your proof of date.
• Visit before December 1. In December and January the supply of free apartments empties out and visits happen in the snow.

Would you rather look while the file moves along? See which 4½ are free at 1700 boul. Lévesque Est, in Duvernay

Where to look for a 4½ for rent in Laval if you have to leave

Stay in Laval if you can: your job and the children's school do not move with you. Our Laval buildings are in Duvernay, along the Rivière des Prairies, and in Vimont.

Heated and lit, and why that matters in November. At 1700 boul. Lévesque Est, electricity, heating, hot water and the water tax are included in the rent. You open no Hydro-Québec account and you receive no heating bill in January. At 1750 it is the opposite: the water tax only is included. Two neighbouring buildings, two very different bills.

Check your bus routes on the STL website before you sign, at the hour you would really be leaving.

At CGK in Laval

We are a family landlord. We own our buildings and you rent directly from us, with no agency. Each building has its caretaker on site. Cats are welcome, dogs are not.

We do not demolish our buildings. We keep them and we rent them, and that is why we can write this guide without selling you anything other than an apartment.

Free right now

The free apartments, with their rent and their date, are shown live on each building's page.

Interested in a heated and lit 4½ for November? Book a visit at 1700 boul. Lévesque Est, in Duvernay

4½ are also coming free at 22-32 boul. Saint-Elzéar Ouest, in Vimont. For a question about a current lease, go through our contact page. Our other guides are on the tenant resources page: the 3½, 4½ and 5½ sizes and life in Boucherville.

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