It’s not always easy to put your paw on rental accommodation in which pitous are not canis non grata. In Quebec, we took the puppy by the horns with the imminent marketing of a residential complex of a hundred apartments specifically designed to live there with or surrounded by furry friends.
It is by relying on its flair that the Logisco real estate group set up the Muso project in western Quebec City, whose apartments will be put on the market in August 2023 and delivered in the summer of 2024. Realizing that the search for accommodation to rent that accepts dogs could be a real obstacle course, the management of the company embarked on the construction of 109 apartments, arranged over 7 floors, where dogs will be welcomed with arms open.
Managing 6,400 lodgings in the Quebec region, Logisco does not generally accept animals in these, due to the sometimes thorny cohabitation between tenants and unsuitable infrastructure.
In addition to leases authorizing the presence of dogs of all sizes, the designers have probed the possible needs of future tenants, humanoids or canids, and planned a range of characteristics to meet them.
“Outside, there will be a dog park of approximately 3000 square feet, divided into two parts, one of 900 square feet for small dogs and another of 2100 square feet for large ones. There will be drinking troughs for the dogs and fountains for their masters, bag dispensers in case they forget, a small agility course, relief areas with an underground drain, ”lists Ms. Simard-Veilleux.
Inside, there will be a grooming room with a bath-shower, a work table where you can tie the animal, and lockers to store your equipment.
The choice of materials also takes future snout tenants into account, with concrete construction featuring superior soundproofing, durable structures to withstand claws and snags longer, and waterproof coatings in common areas (ceramic and Flotex carpet).
With a high number of canids concentrated in the same place, should we be afraid of other problems of cohabitation? “It was part of the discussions. We have planned a canine expert to present conferences on good cohabitation. »
There are plenty for the little ones, but also for the tenants themselves, who will have access to an equipped training room, a common living room with relaxation area, an aperitif area with a pool table as well as a area for teleworking. Among the hundred or so apartments on offer, there are two and a half apartments (rented for around $1,100), three and a half apartments (between $1,200 and $1,500) and four and a half apartments (from $1,600 to $2,000). The price includes parking, air conditioning, wireless internet and secure lockers.
“It’s not more expensive compared to our other buildings, that’s what it costs to build new in 2023”, assures Ms. Simard-Veilleux, who specifies that the amenities for animals do not entail any additional cost. – in relation to the construction of other common amenities, for example a swimming pool.
Future tenants will be able to put their paws on the reservation of these accommodations from August 2023, but know that there are people at the gate: the number of customers placed on the waiting list is currently 10 times greater than there. accustomed, a sign of a real appetite. So will the Muso have babies? Logisco says it is still in prototyping and is waiting to obtain the first results of this test run, but is not closed to the idea of deploying it on a large scale if success is there… in the bowl.
The standoff over lease clauses prohibiting pets in rental apartments continues to rage in Quebec. Recently, the Montreal SPCA intervened with the Administrative Housing Tribunal in the context of a dispute between a tenant and her landlord, who disagreed on the validity of such a contractual condition. At the same time, a bill aimed at making this type of clause in leases ineffective was tabled in the National Assembly on May 25. For the Montreal SPCA, the possibility for landlords to ban animals is “abusive”, contravenes their status as “sentient beings”, promotes abandonment and infringes on privacy. Some groups of owners, for their part, do not want to see the possibility of banning animals in housing be swept away, fearing that they will have to manage damage and conflicts between tenants.
