The question comes up on every re-lease: 'what do I ask?'. The most common answer — look at what neighbourhood ads are asking and land in the middle — produces two symmetrical errors. Too high, the unit stays empty and you lose more than the gap. Too low, you lock yourself into a rent the legal framework for increases will make hard to recover.
A triplex complicates things further: its three units look alike on paper and are not worth the same rent on the market. Here is the five-step method.
Step 1 — Build a range on real comparables
A useful comparable isn't 'a 5½ in the neighbourhood'. It's a unit that shares five characteristics with yours: size in rooms, immediate sector (a few streets, not the borough), floor, inclusions, and general condition.
A macro benchmark helps validate your range without replacing it: the average asking rent for a two-bedroom in Montreal was around $1,930 in the first quarter of 2025 according to Statistics Canada, and CMHC notes that asking rents there moved little between mid-2025 and mid-2026. A wide gap between that benchmark and your street-level comparables deserves an explanation before you set anything.
Build a range with at least five comparables, not an average from two. The width of the range is itself information: if it's very wide, the sector's market is hard to read and each unit's own characteristics weigh heavily.
Step 2 — Adjust unit by unit
This is the step most owners skip, and the one that separates a fully leased triplex from a partly empty one. In a typical Montreal triplex, the three units rarely have the same rental value.
| Characteristic | Effect on rent | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ground floor with yard access | Positive | Sought after by families and dog owners |
| Ground floor, no yard, busy street | Negative | Noise and sense of security |
| Second floor | Neutral to positive | Often the easiest unit to lease |
| Third floor, no elevator | Negative | Narrower candidate pool |
| Heating and hot water included | Strongly positive | Simplifies comparison for the tenant |
| Parking | Strongly positive | Effect larger outside very well-served sectors |
| Balcony, yard or private outdoor space | Positive | A real differentiator since 2020 |
| Recently renovated kitchen or bathroom | Positive | Provided the photos show it |
| In-unit washer-dryer | Positive | Strong differentiator in plexes |
Quantify each gap rather than describing it. 'The third floor is worth less' doesn't help; 'the third floor leases $75 to $125 below the second in this sector' is a testable hypothesis.
Step 3 — Check the Annex G constraint
Your target rent can be perfectly aligned with the market and still be contestable. If the unit was rented in the 12 months preceding the new lease, Annex G requires you to disclose to the new tenant the lowest rent paid during that period.
You remain free to ask more, but the tenant then has 10 days after the lease is concluded to apply to the TAL for a fixing. The wider the gap between the declared rent and the asked rent, the more real that risk becomes.
| Situation | Tenant's deadline to apply to the TAL | Starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Notice given, rent asked higher than declared | 10 days | Conclusion of the lease |
| Notice not given | 2 months | Start of the lease |
| Notice containing a false statement | 2 months | Discovery of the fact |
The special case of a new or newly converted unit
If your triplex is new, or if you converted a commercial space into dwellings, Annex G does not apply: rent fixing by the TAL is set aside for five years from the date the building was ready for habitation — provided you wrote it into section F of the first lease. Since February 2024 you must also declare the maximum rent for those five years. So you are not setting a rent, you are setting a trajectory.
Step 4 — Test the hypothesis in ten days
Once the ad is published, the market answers quickly. The volume and nature of the first ten days' responses tell you whether your price is right — provided you can read the signal.
| Symptom after 10 days | Most likely diagnosis | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Very few or no enquiries | Price above market, or poorly distributed ad | Check distribution and photos first, price second |
| Many enquiries, few showings | Incomplete ad or replies too slow | Fix the ad before touching the price |
| Many showings, no applications | Gap between the ad and the reality on site | Adjust what's visible, or the price |
| Many applications but weak files | Priced below the intended segment | The rent is too low: tighten criteria, raise it on the next lease |
Step 5 — Choose between maximum rent and optimal rent
The maximum rent is the highest someone will eventually accept. The optimal rent is the one that maximizes income over your holding period. They are not the same number, and the gap can be computed.
Take a Montreal 5½. Option A: $1,750, leased for the first of next month. Option B: $1,850, leased two months later.
- Option B gain: $100 a month, or $1,200 a year
- Option B cost: about two vacant months, close to $3,700, once
- Payback: about three years of continuous occupancy
The conclusion therefore depends entirely on expected tenancy length. If your tenants stay four or five years on average, option B wins comfortably — all the more since the higher rent becomes the base for every subsequent renewal and the next Annex G. If they stay one or two years, option A wins.
The one-page recap
- 1Build a range from at least five comparables that actually leased, not merely listed.
- 2Adjust each triplex unit separately for floor, inclusions and outdoor space.
- 3Check what Annex G requires you to declare and document what justifies the gap.
- 4Publish, then read the first ten days' signal before changing anything.
- 5Decide between maximum rent and optimal rent based on your holding horizon.