Moving to Montreal

May 24, 2005 3:11 PM

Moving to Montreal and I need some advice.

I'm actually asking this for a friend. He's moving to Montreal and looking to move in around August 1st. Here are his questions:

1) When should he be looking? Doesn't seem like too many things are available now; is it too early to start checking for august 1st?

2) Where should he look. He's already checked out Craigslist and mls.ca but hasn't found too much.

3) He's going to be a postdoc at McGill, so he wants to be in that general area (near Plateau or McGill) and ideally not pay too much. Which neighborhoods should he look in?

posted by googly to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

I live in Montreal (and go to McGill) and I'm currently looking for an apartment, too. ToutMontreal's ads are a good source, and if he's looking to live in the ghetto, he should definitely check out McGill's classifieds, which actually have a decent search feature and a good variety of places.

It's not too early to start looking for August now, since a lot of students found places before going away for the summer. A lot of ads are "starting immediately", but it shouldn't be too hard to find something for August or a landlord willing to negotiate.

Tell your buddy the student ghetto's an unpleasant place. My boyfriend lived there last year and so your pal should be ready for lots of breaking bottles and drunken yellings at all hours of the night. Unless he is himself into that sort of activity, in which case more power to him.

As for apartments in the Plateau, it's where evvveryone wants to be, so expect to maybe pay more than you should. Also, the area defined as the Plateau is getting ridiculously broad, so he should make sure it's actually somewhere that'll be accessible, though the transit system is really good here. I'm more of the school of thought that it's better to live somewhere farther from downtown (and thus cheaper) but near a metro station or a major bus route, and just take the metro to school-- I live in St-Henri, but right beside Lionel-Groulx metro and it only takes me about 15 minutes to get to school. Transit passes are only $32.50/month for students, so there's no reason to live downtown unless he's really interested in being near a good nightlife or something.

Hope that's useful. If you have any more questions, email's in my profile.
posted by ITheCosmos at 4:09 PM on May 24, 2005

mls.ca is used for real-estate. does your friend want to own, or rent?
posted by seawallrunner at 4:55 PM on May 24, 2005

I have to second what Cosmos says. The McGill ghetto is loud, crowded, dirty and ugly. It's also spectacularly expensive.

The transit system in Montreal is really quite good. Take a look for yourself. With such a system you can live almost anywhere and get to McGill fairly quickly.

The McGill Classified and the McGill Offcampus Housing provide some resources on looking for apartments.

As for when to look, it's never too early. Montreal has been having a housing crunch of late and there is an inflood of new students every year due to the four universities.
posted by cm at 5:16 PM on May 24, 2005

As a longtime and, alas, former resident of Montreal here's my $0.02:

If you're going to McGill to spend 25 hours in a lab/the library/etc., and money is not much of an issue, stay in the ghetto. It is a little bit of Toronto in Montreal and thus has few of the charms of la ville. But it's convenient and will impart as little culture shock as possible.

However, if you'd like to actually experience the joy of the greatest city in North America -- pistols at dawn to anyone who disagrees -- then steer far clear of the ghetto. So, my suggestions, by neighbourhood:

The Plateau is great but, in my experience, it is becoming overpriced (relatively; you can still get a sweet place for the price of a shoebox in Toronto if you get lucky) and it has the lowest vacancy rate in Canada, less time I checked. I'd advise moving a bit further afield, specifically:

Mile-End. This is where I lived for most of my time in Montreal (specifically St. Viateur/St-Urbain.) Prices are low but the vacancy rate is lowering because of spillover from the Plateau. Also, the housing stock is a bit rundown and the landlords can be of the, uh, difficult variety. Caveat emptor.

St-Henri. Although I didn't spend much time there, some friends swear by it. Forever designated "the next plateau" it has not become that, thankfully, although a lot of the old loft space has been converted to yuppie condos. However, the Atwater market is a joy if you have a mouth and there are still bargains, housing-wise. Plus it's close to downtown and serviced by a number of Metro (subway) stops.

Also consider St-Michel, NDG -- although it is gentrifying quickly -- and Verdun.

For listings, I recommend http://alouer.voir.ca and http://www.montoit.ca/

The majority of good listings services are en francais -- it'd be worth your while to know at least as much vocab to surf those sites.

Oh, and you might want to brush up on Quebec rental law if for the only reason that it there are many measures to protect tenants -- no first and last, no damage deposit, etc.. However, landlords, in my experience, will not inform you of your rights and will take liberties where they can. Knowledge is your friend.

Good luck and enjoy Montreal! The effort you make to live a la francais will never disappoint you.
posted by docgonzo at 6:21 PM on May 24, 2005

docgonzo nails it. I've lived in two different places in the Ghetto (3rd floor 4 1/2 on Lorne ave first, and a 3 1/2 on Hutchison) as well as the Quartier Latin (way too loud at night , way too loud during Just for Laughs, and way too loud because of the Cegep), and I've also lived in the Plateau/Mile End area. Mile End between Mt-Royal and Bernard, east of Parc and west of St-Denis is definitely a good place to be (I'm on Villeneuve and Jean Mance) and the rent is still very decent. The closer to Parc you are the easier it is to get to school since the bus (80/535) runs between every 5min and 12min 95% of the day, and there's a night bus, and it drops you off less than 5 min by foot from the east gates of McGill. Of course, with the work going on at the Pine/Parc interchange (they just knocked down the first overpass today) you might want to live in that end if you're taking a car (for the next year at least).

I'd definitely recommend looking now. I suggest you try looking for places in the Montreal Mirror and the Montreal Hour, both are english language weeklies that come out on Thursday, although I know they have some deal where if you pay $10 they'll let you see next weeks classifieds a day in advance.
posted by furtive at 6:46 PM on May 24, 2005 [1 favorite]

Just adding another place to check for classified ads, Montreal's English newspaper, the Gazette. Link goes to the Classifieds and has plenty of rental listings.
posted by Blue Buddha at 7:08 PM on May 24, 2005

I can't believe no-one else has mentioned this: Traditionally, leases in Quebec end on July 1. Sometimes it feels like the whole freakin' city of Montreal is moving on July 1. This means that on August 1st the selection is going to be awfully limited -- limited enough that it might be worth spending that extra month's rent to secure the perfect apartment. (They won't require last month's rent in advance, so it's practically a deposit you don't get back ever..) On the other hand, it means that an apartment which is empty on August 1st is one the landlord will be pretty anxious to fill.

I agree with the neighbourhood recommendations above. If I were moving back I'd look at Mile-End, Verdun, and maybe Snowdon, although that's pretty inconvenient to McGill. But then again, if it's convenient to the Metro it's convenient to McGill.

A postdoc would probably prefer to avoid the student ghetto. I'd encourage an undergrad to maybe find a place in the ghetto and then pick a neighbourhood to move into the subsequent year once there, but a postdoc doesn't need residence-that-isn't-residence, so might as well find an interesting neighbourhood right off the bat.

The Régie du logement provides a bunch of information leaflets for tenants.

They KNOCKED DOWN THE PARC/PINS OVERPASS? Tabarnouche! I thought it would never happen.
posted by mendel at 8:39 PM on May 24, 2005

mendel: yes, leases end on July 1 usually, but lots of landlords are willing to offer extensions. Plenty of people move in Montreal in May, June, August, September, and usually they'll sign their lease so that it comes up for renewal on the 1st of July.

Snowdon is also decent, I lived on Queen Mary for two years near Snowdon metro and quite enjoyed it. There are always places available for rent on Queen Mary, plus you get to live next to the massive Oratory. I wouldn't recommend living there though if you want to do most of your commuting by foot (which can still be easily done in the mile end area).
posted by furtive at 5:01 AM on May 25, 2005

Thanks for all the great advice everyone!
posted by googly at 8:49 AM on May 25, 2005