F-039: Quebec Rent Increase Calculator

Status: Done · Priority: P1 · Branch: feature/F-039-rent-increase-calculator · Updated: Mar 7, 2026

Summary

Quebec has strict rent increase rules governed by the TAL (Tribunal administratif du logement). As of January 2026, the TAL replaced their 13-factor calculation with a simplified base percentage system. No competitor offers a bilingual calculator for this. Strong SEO + utility — "calculateur augmentation loyer Quebec" and "Quebec rent increase calculator 2026" are high-volume queries with no good tools available.

Pure frontend tool — no API or database changes needed. Annual maintenance: update the base rate each January when TAL publishes.

Requirements

MVP — Tenant Calculator (S effort)

• [ ] Dedicated page at /rent-increase (bilingual /augmentation-loyer)
• [ ] Input: current monthly rent
• [ ] Input: lease renewal date (determines which rate applies)
• [ ] Input: heating included? (context for educational content)
• [ ] Output: maximum base increase amount ($)
• [ ] Output: suggested new rent after increase
• [ ] Output: educational context (tenant rights, how to contest)
• [ ] Link to official TAL calculator for full details
• [ ] Bilingual (FR/EN)
• [ ] No auth required
• [ ] SEO-optimized (meta tags, structured data, FAQ schema)
• [ ] Pure client-side calculation — no API needed
• [ ] Responsive design (mobile-first)

Full Landlord Calculator (M effort, phase 2)

• [ ] Additional input: municipal property tax (current vs previous year)
• [ ] Additional input: school property tax (current vs previous year)
• [ ] Additional input: fire/liability insurance (current vs previous year)
• [ ] Additional input: major renovation costs + type
• [ ] Additional input: government subsidies received
• [ ] Output: itemized breakdown (base + tax adjustment + insurance adjustment + renovation)
• [ ] Output: printable/shareable summary for tenant notification
• [ ] CTA: "Manage this property on MTL Rent" for landlord conversion

Design

TAL Formula (2026 System)

The new system uses a base percentage derived from a 3-year CPI average, plus adjustments for cost changes that exceed the base rate.

Base Rates

Lease Period	Base Rate	Notes
Before Apr 2, 2026	4.5%	Transitional rate
Apr 2, 2026 - Apr 1, 2027	3.1%	New system (3-year CPI average)
Future years	Published annually	TAL releases each January

Full Formula (Landlord Calculator)

Base increase = current_rent * base_rate

Tax/Insurance Adjustment:
  costs_2025 = municipal_tax + school_tax + insurance (current year)
  costs_2024 = municipal_tax + school_tax + insurance (previous year)
  threshold = costs_2024 * (1 + base_rate)

  If costs_2025 > threshold:
    monthly_adjustment = (costs_2025 - threshold) / 12 * unit_share
  Else:
    monthly_adjustment = 0

Renovation Adjustment (if applicable):
  renovation_increase = (renovation_cost - subsidies) * 5% / 12

New rent = current_rent + base_increase + monthly_adjustment + renovation_increase

MVP Simplification

For tenants, the core question is "what's the maximum my landlord can raise my rent?"

MVP calculation:
  new_rent = current_rent * (1 + base_rate)
  increase = new_rent - current_rent

This covers the vast majority of cases. The full formula (with tax/insurance) only adds to the increase — so the base rate is the minimum a tenant should expect, and often the only increase applied.

Frontend

• Standalone page at /[locale]/rent-increase
• No API calls — pure client-side JavaScript calculation
• Rate constants stored in a config object (easy annual update):

  const TAL_RATES = {
    2026: { base: 0.031, transitionBase: 0.045, transitionDate: '2026-04-02', renovationRate: 0.05 },
    2025: { base: 0.059 },
  };

• Results card with visual indicator (green/yellow/red based on % increase)
• "Know your rights" educational section below results
• FAQ section with FAQPage JSON-LD for featured snippets:
  • "What is the maximum rent increase in Quebec for 2026?"
  • "Can my landlord increase rent more than 3.1%?"
  • "How do I contest a rent increase in Quebec?"
  • "When does the new TAL calculation apply?"

SEO Targets

• EN: "Quebec rent increase calculator 2026", "maximum rent increase Quebec", "TAL rent increase"
• FR: "calculateur augmentation loyer Quebec 2026", "hausse de loyer maximale", "calcul TAL loyer"
• Long-tail: "can my landlord increase rent Quebec", "how to contest rent increase Montreal"

Annual Maintenance

Each January when TAL publishes new rates:

1. Add new year entry to TAL_RATES config
2. Update the transitional date if applicable
3. Update FAQ answers with new year/percentage
4. Blog post: "Quebec Rent Increase Rates for [Year]" (SEO content)

Official TAL Resources

• Main calculation page: https://www.tal.gouv.qc.ca/en/calculation-for-rent-increase
• Rent increase overview: https://www.tal.gouv.qc.ca/en/renewal-of-the-lease-and-fixing-of-rent/rent-increase
• Applicable percentages: https://www.tal.gouv.qc.ca/en/renewal-of-the-lease-and-fixing-of-rent/applicable-percentages-to-the-criteria-for-the-fixing-of-rent

Discussion Notes

Mar 7, 2026 — Created. The TAL simplified their formula in Jan 2026 (from 13 factors to base percentage + adjustments), making this much more feasible. MVP is S effort — pure frontend, no API, no DB. The base rate (3.1% for 2026) covers the majority of tenant cases. Full landlord calculator with tax/insurance/renovation inputs is phase 2 (M effort). No competitor offers a bilingual version. Strong SEO play for both EN and FR keywords.

Implementation Notes

Mar 7, 2026 — MVP implemented.

Files Created/Modified

• services/web/app/[locale]/rent-increase/page.tsx — Page with bilingual metadata + hreflang alternates
• services/web/components/rent-increase/rent-increase-index.tsx — Pure client-side calculator component
• services/web/messages/en.json — Added rentIncrease namespace (30+ keys) + header nav
• services/web/messages/fr.json — Added rentIncrease namespace (30+ keys) + header nav
• services/web/components/layout/header.tsx — Added nav link

Implementation Details

• Pure client-side calculation — no API endpoints, no DB changes
• TAL_RATES config object at top of component for easy annual updates
• Inputs: current rent, lease renewal date, heating included toggle
• Automatic rate selection: base (3.1%) vs transitional (4.5%) based on date vs April 2 cutoff
• Color-coded badge: green (❤️%), yellow (3-5%), red (>5%)
• "Know Your Rights" section with 3 tenant rights + link to official TAL site
• FAQ accordion with 4 Q&As + FAQPage JSON-LD structured data for featured snippets
• Responsive two-column layout (stacked on mobile)