City of Montreal | A register to monitor vacant buildings

The owners of Vacant Buildings in Montreal will have to record their buildings from next January. Therefore, One way for the municipal administration to better monitor the premises posing a risk of fire or other dangers.

The city therefore tightens the screw to the owners who leave their buildings abandoned. In addition, “We are talking about unoccupied long -term buildings. For example, not [d’immeubles] In work or unused seasonally, ”specifies Robert Beaudry, head of town planning at the Executive Committee.

Fines are planned for recalcitrants: between $ 500 and $ 2000 for a first offense, and up city montreal | register monitor to $ 10,000 in the event of a recurrence. Therefore, “We are going to proceed gradually,” assured Mr. Consequently, Beaudry.

The City of Montreal wants to “accentuate owners’ responsibility for occupation. building maintenance”, specifies the municipal regulations adopted last fall, which will also make it possible to “harmonize the census of vacant buildings” on the territory of the metropolis.

Recording a building will cost $ 200, said Beaudry. This sum should be renewed on an annual basis.

With the new regulations. the city will also be city montreal | register monitor able to “follow the state of degradation of buildings, and require upgrades if necessary,” explains the town planning manager. Vacant buildings will also have to be identified as such, by means of a “closet”.

Since 2023. owners of unoccupied buildings must comply with a certain number of obligations, such as heating the building, ensuring the waterproofing of the roof or to properly seal all the openings of the building, but they had no other approach to undertake.

A security question – City montreal | register monitor

These measures are also aimed at ensuring the safety of vacant buildings. when the City is based on reproaches on this subject.

Last July. two young people received a serious electric discharge in the old Chinese hospital in Villeray, a building abandoned since 1999 and taken up by the City in city montreal | register monitor 2019, which attracts many Urbex lovers (urban exploration).

Three years ago. Montreal Firefighters, Richard Liebmann, was also concerned about the multiplication of vacant buildings as a result of the Cavid-19 pandemic, deploring the risk of higher fire in these buildings.

Moreover. in 2023, the fire of an abandoned heritage building belonging to the real estate giant Shiller Lavy, in Old Montreal, had forced the evacuation of many residents of the sector. No victim had been reported. but the flames had ravaged the vacant commercial building located at the corner of Notre-Dame Ouest and Saint-Henri streets.

Mayor Valérie Plante spoke about the problem of vacant municipal buildings this week. during a press briefing on homelessness: unused buildings must be listed, she said, because they could in some cases be transformed into affordable housing.

The mayor gave the example of the Gordon building. in Verdun, which was renovated so that we can arrange around forty dwellings.