Finding Accommodation in Montréal
What are the pertinent considerations?
In which neighbourhoods should I look?
How should I proceed?
Before you begin
Step 1
Step 2
What should I look for during the visit?
What can the landlord ask of me?
The following considerations need to be addressed:
- Proximity to public transit : Most importantly direct routes to school. Consult STM's Transit Network Maps.
- Distance from School : Consult the neighborhood time-in-transit map
- The distance to stores : Particularly food supermarkets (IGA, Provigo, Métro, Loblaws...).
- Services that may be included in your rent : Heating, Hot Water, Electricity, (rarely Cable TV, Telephone or Internet).
- A neighbourhood that matches your lifestyle :Discover the various parts of Montréal and the style of living they offer. You may consult the following websites
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Rent prices vary from one area to the next. The neighbourhoods most popular with HEC Montréal students are:
- Close to campus : Near the following Metro stations: Université-de-Montréal, Côte-des-Neiges, Édouard-Montpetit / Adjacent neighbourhoods: Outremont, Snowdon, Côte-des-Neiges.
- Other popular neighbourhoods: Plateau-Mont-Royal, Mile-End, Rosemont-Petite-Patrie… (Metro stations: Laurier, Rosemont, Mont-Royal, Jean Talon, De-Castelnau)
- To reduce your rental costs, you need to look a bit further : Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (HoMa), Ahuntsic, Villeray, Verdun, Saint-Henri.
- The more expensive areas : Westmount, Golden Square Mile, Downtown, Old-Port, Old-Montréal, Iles-des-sœurs.
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- Attend one of the Accommodation Workshops and the Accommodation Hunting Information sessions offered by the International Student Affairs office to help students with their search. These workshops are specifically designed for international students but are open to all.
- Walk around the city. Determine the neighbourhoods that suit your tastes and determine the travel distances.
- Visit the HEC Online bulletin board for housing offers (in French) at HEC en Ligne. The site is an excellent starting point for your search. Under the Service aux étudiants menu, the "Consulter annonces de logement" tab lists the current housing offers. You may perform a search based on the number of rooms, the price and the closest metro stop, etc. Many of these offers come from other HEC student looking for roommates.
Please note that the School doesn’t select the offers listed and in no way assumes any responsibility on these offers. We neither visit, nor do we check the validity of the information provided or the potential suitability in meeting the needs of a student.
- Roam the streets close to the School. Some owners prefer to simply post a small sign in front of their building rather than publish the offer on a website or newspaper.
- Want ads:
- Ads published in local newspapers:
- To find a Homestay Family
- To find roommates or a Flat Share:
- Call the owner to setup an appointment for a visit.
- Mention the School's name and make use of HEC’s reputation. Do not hesitate to mention to the owner that you are going to be studying at HEC Montréal. If you are a foreigner, we recommend you bring a Québécois with you when you go sign your lease if at all possible. For the international students, bring your School admission letter, your passport, your Québec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ).
- Check the apartment’s location. Confirm that the apartment is located near a metro or bus stop and consider how easy it will be to get to school in the worst days of Montréal winters. Use the STM’s “Tous Azimuts” trip planner or Google Maps to estimate the travel time from your apartment to the school using public transit. You may also want to check evening and night bus service to this area to get back from working late or going out with friends.
- Visit more than one apartment before deciding. The price or description of an apartment can never determine the actual quality of the place. We suggest you make a list of things to look for during your visit. Most landowners will never consider renting to someone they have never met and the same goes for roommates looking for someone to share their flat share. This is why your search can not really start before you get to Montréal.
BE CAREFULL! NEVER sign a lease before you have visited the apartment and met with the landlord.
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Is the heating included? Otherwise call Hydro Québec or Gas Metro for one have estimated the costs before signing the lease
Verify if there is a washing machine and a tumble-dryer in the building and their cost-in-use if necessary, or the close laundry.
Verify the functioning of the supplied household electrical appliances and the state of furniture if necessary
Look at locks, at the access to the building (security)
Bathroom: verify the pressure of the shower, the cleanliness, the presence of humidity
Sound damping of places: inquire about the chap of persons who live in the building
Verify the insulation at the level of windows (avoid the wooden centrings)
What is the available storage space?
Inquire about the businesses which are accessible(approachable) all around
For a corent, verify the lifestyle of the roommates (rhythm of life, notion of arrangement and cleanliness, how the person envisages)
Before signing:
1. Assure that all the promised repairs are mentioned in the lease
2. All the names of the occupants must be mentioned
3. All the details must be clear for you
4. What method of payment is planned? If the rent is not paid by check, always ask immediately for a receipt
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Rental laws allow the landlord to:
- Ask for housing, work and banking references that he may use to perform a credit check on you.
- Request that someone co-sign the lease of students without sufficient revenues in Canada.
- Limit the number of persons authorised to occupy the apartment.
It is UNLAWFULL for the landowner to:
- Ask for your credit card number, your passport number, or bank account number or Social Insurance Number… However many landlords insist on this information on their request form. You may ask the Régie du Logement or use your own judgement before providing some or all of this information.
- Require you to provide post-dated check for the eleven remaining months of your lease. You are allowed to provide those freely if you find this convenient.
- Ask for a rent deposit for the last month’s rent or any other amount that would exceed that exceeds one month’s rent (see above).
- Require you to leave a security deposit for the keys or future damage claims against you.
- Ask you for your welfare number (the foreign students cannot obtain one from it that if they work)
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