Shape up or lose your property, Quebec City tells owners of neglected buildings
It's known in Quebec City as "the little white house" — a tiny 139-year-old building that faces the city's historic Plains of Abraham and tucked next to a Martello tower where British soldiers once stood guard.
Once a picture of tranquillity, the house became ground zero this summer in a battle between developers and the city's historic-building aficionados.
Amid concerns for the future of the little white house, the city threatened to expropriate the property from the developer.
But one expert in municipal law says both Quebec City and Montreal are generally slow to deal with buildings that are either at risk, neglected or abandoned.
According to François Marchand, Quebec's two biggest cities don't seem to realize the legal powers they have to deal with these buildings.
The sad decline of the little white house
Neighbours began to rally around the little white house after its owner, developer Stéphane Huot, started using it as an office for a nearby construction site.
Huot's company razed the bushes and grass on the front lawn, and left rebar, blocks of cement and other building materials scattered in its place. A stack of lumber lay on the sill of its delicately paned front window.
"There was a magnificent yard with very beautiful trees," said neighbour Alain Perron. "But since the first of June, it was completely destroyed."
About 30 people who live nearby, concerned about Huot's treatment of the building, started pushing for the city to list it as a heritage property.
In 2013, Huot wanted to demolish the home to make way for a condominium tower. The city blocked that move.
Fix it or lose it
Mayor Regis Labeaume threatened to expropriate the little white house, along with four other properties, in order to protect them from developers.
Labeaume claimed special zoning laws for the area around the National Assembly could have been invoked, and that they would have left the property owners with little recourse.
The next day Huot's company, Groupe Huot, promised the construction office would be relocated and that the little white house would be preserved.
But Marchand, a municipal law attorney and former city councillor, says Labeaume's bluster was unnecessary.
"I think they already have all the necessary tools," said Marchand, who is also considering running for mayor in the next municipal election.
He believes Quebec City should go to court instead of seeking to give buildings protected status, a process he says could take months.
Montreal property woes
Montreal is nursing its own property headaches. Two greystone buildings on de l'Esplanade Avenue were declared unsafe in 1996, but have continued to deteriorate.
The Plateau–Mont-Royal borough considered expropriating them, but opposition city councillor Alex Norris said municipal lawyers advised the city to drop it.
The lawyers claimed it would be too hard to convince a judge to approve an expropriation if most of the buildings were going to be demolished afterwards, Norris said.
Instead, the city sought an injunction that has still not been acted on three years later. Norris said the city has little power to deal with the buildings.
Smaller towns do it
That attitude stumps Marchand, who maintains Quebec courts are often willing to empower municipalities to deal with problematic properties.
"I am a lawyer in municipal (law), and I have seen many small towns or municipalities," he said. "They go in court and they win."
As examples, he points to Coaticook, in the Eastern Townships, and Rivière-Bleue, near Rivière-du-Loup.
Both municipalities obtained court rulings that not only forced building owners to repair their properties within a set time period, but also granted the municipalities the power to do the repair work themselves and send the owners the bill.
"If small towns win in court, Quebec and Montreal should also," Marchand said.
"We have problems with very, very beautiful buildings that need urgent renovation work and nobody acts," he added.
