In Quebec, all residential leases expire the same day of the year, July 1, unless the landlord and tenant agree otherwise (but given the universality of the date, it is generally hard to get that agreement). As one might imagine, one result is absolute chaos for movers. I recall when good friends moved (out of the province) and the new owners who were moving from a rented apartment and therefore wanted to move on July 1, had to return the truck they had rented from 7 AM to 1 PM or pay an enormous penalty.
My question is does any other jurisdiction have such an insane arrangement? Certainly, no other place I have ever lived has such a law and I was telling an incredulous visitor about it a while ago and began to wonder if Quebec was unique in this.
Incidentally, there used to be two such dates, May 1 and Oct. 1 (historically a result of a law making eviction impossible between those dates presumably because of the harsh winter). These dates were maximally disruptive of schools and it would have been quite reasonable to abolish them, but it seemingly never occurred to anyone to just abolish the concept. And of course, the chosen date, aside from not interfering with school, was also chosen to interfere with the Canada Day holiday.
That’s insane. Never heard of it down here in the States. We just go by whenever you move in (or more likely, whenever the apartment is free). Lease terms vary from month-to-month to 12, 13, or 14 months.
Jour du demenagement is indeed crazy in Quebec but is it really enshrined that deeply? When I lived in Montreal (mid-90s) I had an apartment with a September lease and knew a lot of others with May and August leases as well. I did a lot of apartment hunting and there seemed to be no shortage of non-July leases… These were in areas close to McGill but not particularly “student-y”.
We used to joke that you could snag some prime goods just from the stuff people abandon on the curbsides of Westmount on July 1st…
Almost all leases in Boston, MA, renew on September 1. That’s just the way it is. I did live in one place where I moved in in December but the lease was still set to expire on 8/31. I moved to another place on June 1 and got a 15-month lease so that it would expire on 8/31 of the next year. I think most of these are done this way because of the large student population, although neither of the places I lived catered to students in the least.
We don’t have “moving day” in the UK. It varies from place to place. I started renting in September, my lease until June. I’ll then move out for the summer (I’m a student) and go back to the same place and move back in September.
On Campus in Madison, WI, we had a day (I think Aug15) that leases expired, and new leases started on the 16th. It was a great time to go dumpster diving for stuff, but a hassle to deal with the moves.
I’ve never heard of this. Surely there must be some benefit to it for either the renter, the landlord or the government, yes? I can think of none. Why does this exist?
