Finding a place to live in Montréal
Here are some tips to help you find a place to live and study in the best possible conditions.
When do you start looking?
You can start looking for accommodation at the end of Spring, if you are able to reach Montréal by then. Otherwise, you may still find many offers over the course of Summer:
- Owners of apartments close to the campus often wait for the academic term to start before posting their offers.
- There many sublet and apartment-sharing offers for students in the weeks just before the academic term starts.
Wait till you reach Montréal before paying or signing a lease
You haven't seen an apartment in person that interested you? Don't rent it. Don't sign a lease. Don't make any payments. This will help protect you from fraud. Actually, there are a lot of scammers out there, and you need to be careful (examples of scams: the photos are misleading; the apartment doesn't exist, etc).
- Reach Montréal at least two weeks before classes begin.
- Book temporary accommodation before you start looking for a place to live.
Learn more about scams and ways to protect yourself
- Advice from the Montréal police department
- 12 signs of a scammer (in French only)
Renting temporary accommodation
If you don’t have a contact for accommodation, book temporary accommodation for your first few nights in Montreal as soon as possible. Make a reservation for at least one week. You can extend it if necessary.
The options include hotels, youth hostels, couchsurfing, etc.
A few suggestions of temporary accommodation close to the campus
- Maison Mckenna
- Hôtel Terrasse Royale
- John XXIII Pavilion
- Maria Goretti Residence (in French only)
All over Montréal:
- Airbnb
- Couchsurfing (multilingual service)
- GlobalRent.com (in French only)
- Hotel 2170 Lincoln (HEC Montréal preferential rate, medium and long stay - 4 months and up)
- Tour Belvédère
- Tourisme Montréal – Accommodations
Looking for a permanent apartment
Ask about it! Before starting your apartment search, you could benefit by checking out the following websites:
Bear the following in mind
- Proximity to public transit
- Furniture available to you
- Services included in your rent: heating, hot water, electricity, Internet, etc.
In what neighbourhood should you be looking?
Rental fees vary from one neighborhood to the next. These are the neighbourhoods most popular with our student body:
- Close to campus : Outremont, Snowdon, Côte-des-Neiges (Université-de-Montréal, Côte-des-Neiges, Édouard-Montpetit Metro stations).
- Other easy-to-reach neighbourhoods: Plateau-Mont-Royal, Mile-End, Villeray, Rosemont-Petite-Patrie (Laurier, Rosemont, Mont-Royal, Jean-Talon, De-Castelnau, Jarry, Fabre Metro stations).
- To reduce your rental costs, you need to head eastwards in Montréal
- More expensive neighbourhoods: Westmount, Downtown, Old-Montréal
Where can you find offers of accommodation?
On HEC en ligne.
You must log in to HEC en ligne with your ID number.
- Click the Services and Tools option.
- Then, under the Apartments tab, click Search, which brings you to the View Housing Rental Ads page.
HEC Montréal will not be responsible for the quality of housing on offer.
To offer accommodation yourself on hec.ca
- There is at least a 24-hour delay before the ad is posted on the website.
- Listings will automatically be removed from the website after one month of publication. If your accommodation has not been rented within a month and you wish to keep your ad posted, you must create a new ad.
- To modify or withdraw your offer, drop us a line at logement@hec.ca. Mention the number assigned to your ad.
- HEC Montréal reserves the right to remove or refuse to post an ad.
Other platforms for accommodation ads
Student Residences
The HEC Montréal-Darlington student residence
The HEC Montréal-Darlington Residence offers 40 full-time students, and students from outside of Canada, the opportunity to rent a room in a university residence. Find out more.
Université de Montréal residences
These university residences are located within a 10-minute walk of HEC Montréal and offer good value for money. If you’re a full-time student, you may be able to get a single or double studio (or a single adapted for people with disabilities). Find out more (in French only).
Private residences
What do you need to consider when visiting an apartment?
- Is the heating included? If it isn’t included, contact Hydro-Québec (electricity) or Energir (natural gas) to get a cost estimate before you sign the lease.
- Is there is a washing machine and a tumble-dryer in the building? Ask about user fees. If there is no laundry service, find out where the nearest one is.
- Are the appliances working properly? What is the condition of the furniture, if provided?
- What is the condition of the locks and the access door to the building?
- In the bathroom, verify the water pressure of the shower, the cleanliness, the presence of humidity.
- Soundproofing the premises: find out what the people are like who will be your neighbours.
- Are windows properly insulated (avoid wooden frames)?
- How much storage space is available?
- What shops are located nearby?
When choosing roommates, find out about their lifestyle and consider whether you are likely to get along with them (rhythm of life, ideas of tidiness and cleanliness, the concept of sharing space with a roommate, sharing of expenses, etc.).
Once you've found accommodation
Take out insurance
This is highly recommended, no matter what the duration of your rental contract. Insurance generally covers two kinds of risk:
- Civil liability: covers any damage you cause to the building in which you live and any harm you may cause to residents and visitors.
- Property: provides for the replacement of property stolen, lost or damaged due to a disaster.
For more information, consult the website of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
TD Assurance offers preferential rates.
Furnishing your living space
Here are some inexpensive ways to furnish your living space.
New products
- IKEA
- Pack Mobilier (furniture rentals)
- Walmart
- Canadian Tire
Used products
- The Salvation Army
- Renaissance
- Société de Saint-Vincent de Paul
- Village des valeurs
- Kijiji
- Marketplace – Facebook
Legal questions and advice
Get a basic understanding of your rights and obligations as well as those of your landlord or lessor.
Information provided by the Tribunal administratif du logement
- Joint tenancy
- Paying rent
- Assignment of a lease or subleasing
- Renewal of the lease and fixing of rent
- The lease and protection of personal information
Need legal assistance?
- Get advice from volunteer lawyers or law students at free legal clinics.
- JusticeBot is a computer tool using artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify public access to legal information.
For more information
Student Services offer a workshop on how to search for accommodation at the beginning of the Fall and Winter terms. Watch for the Back-to-School Calendar of Events
Other questions about accommodation? Write us at logement@hec.ca