Moving
Last updated
Last updated
In Québec, "Moving Day" is officially on July 1st of each year. You will have the most luck finding apartments with leases that begin on this date, as many Montrealers move on this day, but it is not impossible to find leases that begin later in the year. Keep in mind that, since (almost) everyone moves on July 1st, it can be very hard to find moving vans to rent/places to park the moving vans around this time. If you are arriving in the winter, you may have the most luck with lease transfers (the lease is not up on the apartment, but the previous tennant would like to move out and is looking for someone to take over their contract).
A good place to look for apartments in the city is Kijiji, a reselling platform. You can filter by location (handy if you're looking for a place near campus!) as well as price range. Apartments can greatly range in price, depending on the location, size and building. Feel free to get in touch with local lab members to get a feel for "average" prices of what you're looking to rent!
When looking at prices, keep in mind that heating is not always included in the price. With electric heating, sometimes you will be responsible for paying for the cost of heating on your electricity bill, which can get very expensive in the winter (sometimes up to $150 a month). However, occasionally the building will control the heating system. In this case, the price of heating should be included in your rent.
In Montreal (and in all the province of Quebec), the size of appartments are expressed in a... weird metric. For instance, you might see a 4 1/2 or a 3 1/2 appartment being advertised. What does that mean?
The "1/2" means the bathroom - every appartment will have one!
The previous number (1,2,3,4) is the number of rooms. This can vary, but in most cases:
A 1 1/2 is a studio (only one room plus a bathroom, the main room will be your bedroom, living room and kitchen all at once)
A 2 1/2 will usually also be a studio, but a little big bigger (there will probably be some space for some kind of separation between the kitchen and the bedroom/living room, but you still won't have a separate bedroom, and of course there is a bathroom)
A 3 1/2 has 1 separate bedroom, one main area including the kitchen/living room and a bathroom
A 4 1/2 has 2 separate bedrooms, plus one main area for kitchen/living room, plus a bathroom
A 5 1/2 has 3 separate bedrooms, plus one main area for kitchen/living room, plus a bathroom
And so on!
Note: the definition of the difference between a 2 1/2 and a 3 1/2 can vary from landlord to landlord. Normally a 3 1/2 has a very distinct separation between the kitchen and living room, plus one bedroom. However, some landlords might have appartments where the living room + kitchen are pretty much the same room, and they might still advertise this as a 3 1/2. The best way to find out if the appartment is right for you is to visit!
As a tenant, you have rights, and it's important to be aware of them!