A tenant reports bed bugs. From that point we take the file off your hands. We draft the notice in your name, we call the tenants and book the visits, we treat the whole building, we file the City declaration and we chase you before every follow-up date. All we need from you is the unit list. CD5/CD6 certified technicians, products registered by Health Canada, written guarantee, 57 zones around Montreal.
This is the first mistake, and an expensive one. Treating only the unit that reported the problem pushes the insects to the neighbours, where they quietly start again. The City of Montreal in fact requires an exterminator notified of an infestation to inspect the entire building.
These figures come from the 2019 situation report by Montreal's regional public health department, based on the 2017 Housing Survey. They explain why this concerns you more than it concerns the owner of a single family home.
The bigger the building, the higher the odds that at least one unit is affected. It is not a matter of cleanliness or of management quality, it is arithmetic. What separates a healthy building from a problem building is reaction speed, not luck.
Four steps, always the same, documented at every visit so you can show them to your owner, your insurer or the Tribunal.
The rule is simple. Everything administrative and everything involving tenants is ours. What is left on your side fits in three lines, and that is deliberate.
Let us be plain about it. Our client is you, and our job is to keep you out of trouble, not to lecture you about your obligations. In almost every file that goes wrong, the owner was not acting in bad faith, they simply had no proof of what they had done. Here are the four situations we help you avoid, and what we put in place for each one.
According to the Administrative Housing Tribunal, the presence of cockroaches, bed bugs, ants, rats or mice amounts to unsanitary conditions, and the tenant can seek an order for work, a rent reduction or damages. What we do for you. A dated report at every visit, the list of units entered, and any refused access recorded in black and white and flagged to you the same day. If the file goes further, you have something to show, without having had to assemble it yourself.
The files that get expensive are almost always the ones where someone waited. Since February 21, 2024, punitive damages are available where a dwelling becomes unfit for habitation through negligence, and in 2019 a Montreal landlord was ordered to pay $19,424, including $8,000 in punitive damages, for failing to disclose infestations they knew about. What we do for you. The follow-up visit is booked on our calendar, not yours. We are the ones who remind you before the deadline, and we are the ones who go back to the tenants to set it.
According to the municipal information sheet on by-law 03-096, the City can have the work carried out at the owner's expense, with a prior claim and a legal hypothec on the building. What we do for you. We file the mandatory City declaration within 5 days, so your municipal file stays clean and current without you thinking about it. Have the amounts in force confirmed with your borough.
A unit you cannot re-rent often costs more than the treatment itself, especially with July 1 coming. What we do for you. We prioritise the units blocking a re-rental, we call the tenant directly to book the visit as early as possible, and we give you a firm date, not a range, so you can sign your leases.
A building cannot be priced over the phone. It depends on how many units are actually affected, on the pest and on access. What follows is how we work, not a fixed grid.
A word on where we stand. People sometimes ask whether we work for tenants. We do not. Our client is the owner or the property manager. If we speak to tenants directly, it is to take that work off your hands, not to represent them. Our interest is the same as yours, a healthy building and a problem that does not come back. A reassured tenant who stays three more years is your best return on investment, and that is exactly what a properly run treatment produces.
In the vast majority of cases, the landlord. The Administrative Housing Tribunal lists vermin among unsanitary conditions and the landlord must keep the dwelling in good habitable condition. A tenant can be held responsible in specific cases, refusing to cooperate, clutter preventing treatment, or unsanitary conditions they caused. Every situation turns on its own facts and this is not legal advice.
Yes. The City of Montreal requires an exterminator notified of an infestation to inspect the entire building to establish its extent. It is also the only way to stop the problem coming back through the neighbouring unit three months later.
Not for bed bugs. According to the INSPQ, the half-life of registered insecticides is too short to kill the bugs hatching from eggs. A second pass is needed 2 to 6 weeks later, and a follow-up visit 2 to 4 weeks after each application. A contractor promising a single visit is selling you a return trip.
We do. In Montreal, an exterminator must declare every bed bug treatment within 5 days, under the by-law on the sanitation, maintenance and safety of dwelling units. That is our obligation, not yours, and it is included in our service.
Yes, and that is the point. We draft the notice in your name, we call the affected tenants, we set the visit windows and we handle reschedules. You stay informed throughout, but you never negotiate the appointments. That is usually the part that eats a property manager's week.
We follow up once, then record it in writing in the visit report with the date and time, and flag it to you the same day. That document becomes your evidence that you did what was required, which matters a great deal if the file reaches the Tribunal.
Yes. The process is the same, with a contact on the board of directors or at the management firm. Common areas are treated alongside the affected units, and the report is written so it can be presented at a general meeting.
Yes, across 57 zones in the greater area, including Laval, Longueuil, Brossard, Terrebonne and Repentigny. Declaration requirements vary by municipality and we apply those of the territory concerned.
57 zones around Montreal, from downtown out to the north and south shores. Pick your area to see the matching page.
Three resources worth a look.