So my sister bought a house in Montreal. It’s a big, beautiful, expensive house. She paid the so-called “Welcome Tax” (I kid you not) in the amount of $10,000. She also paid a boatload of other taxes. She is a hard worker, so there are lots of taxes. That’s all she ever seems to do: work, hand over the money, work, hand over more money. Obviously, she never gets anything back, but it isn’t like she is hoping to.
Before moving in, she hired workers to paint the rooms, change the old bathroom faucets, install new lighting fixtures – in short, everything people do before they move into a new place.
Yesterday, however, she heard that, in her absence, a state bureaucrat entered the house, photographed all of the remodeling supplies she had bought (with her own money that she had left after paying the ridiculously high taxes), calculated their value, and placed an injunction on her. The injunction prohibits her from doing any painting or other work inside her own house. It turns out that people are not allowed to do home repairs in that municipality if the repairs are done for the amount greater than $2,000.
When people start doing repairs, these bureaucrats penetrate into their houses (without asking permission), conduct what amounts to warrantless searches, and forbid the repairs until a special permit is obtained by the owners. The owners are also fined $500 per day for painting the walls inside of their own houses.
Obviously, after the injunction is placed, these bureaucrats become impossible to locate. It isn’t like you can call them on the phone, write them an email, or just come an see them to find out when you will be able to continue the remodeling. They disappear, they drag things out, they stay hidden as long as possible. In the meanwhile, the workers one has hired to do the remodel can’t continue the work, the new bathroom fixtures and furniture can’t be delivered, and the move-in date has to be shifted again and again.
Of course, it is important to give “work” to the perennially unemployable, so they are herded into these bureaucratic positions with the state. Sadly, however, they can’t just stay in their offices, drinking tea and staring stupidly at their Facebook pages. They need to get out in the world and make themselves noticed. And that’s when complete insanity begins.
Clarissa's Blog 
What happens if someone’s roof collapses or there’s a flood? Does the person have to move out rather than get it repaired?
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Ha! What a great point. Sadly, I think one would need to move out, apply for a permit and hope for the best. As I am waiting, I wonder if there is a possibility of being denied permission to go ahead with renos?!
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So, it’s not the ideological state apparatus, anyway. When I first migrated, I was horrified at how little was available to the average citizen. You couldn’t camp anywhere you wanted to, you had to wear seatbelts and have headrests installed in your car, you had to allow strangers to cross your lawn, you were not expected to defend your private space (or have it respected) in a park… The most telling sign was that when people travelled by car through the wilderness areas, they put their radios on full blast — commercial radio drowning out any natural vibes.
That is why I say I am not averse to men being militarized — or even large sectors of the population, male and female. It would free up the mind and make people stop thinking in such narrow terms.
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There is a more effective version of this at play in the UK.
Many people in the UK have become notoriously crap and lazy at doing do-it-yourself projects — this includes anything from making sandwiches (at least at M&S) to repairing the electric wiring in a house.
The “fine” comes in the form of having to hire a contractor to bring everything back to working order, often involving contractors from somewhere outside the UK.
No bureaucrats are required. People have leave to remain in the darkness, in the cold, and so forth until they cough up money as part of admitting to a very personal incompetence.
I like this way of doing things much more than worrying about whether some state bureaucrat will commit suicide by picking up a loaded nail gun by the wrong end …
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I have to confess, I like the fantasy about a bureaucrat and a nail gun. 🙂
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What possible justification could there be for such a regulation? Beyond straight strong arm tactics to pry more money from their tax cows I can’t think of any reason for the government to take an interest.
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I would also like to know how they justify it. But I haven’t met the hero who’d manage to wring an explanation out of them.
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Is this a historic home by chance? I know in the US, there are a lot of regulations on remodeling if the home has been deemed historic.
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“Is this a historic home by chance?”
– If it is, nobody ever informed us. This should be a matter of public record, right? When I was looking at houses, I always knew exactly which ones were historic homes. If one can buy a house and not be informed at any stage that it’s a historic home, that’s just wrong.
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Yes. The buyers should always be made _very_ aware of a historic home purchase. They require a lot of red tape and many people don’t want to deal with the hassle. (It’s a dream of mine to own a historic home though.) Does your sister’s home look historic?
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“Does your sister’s home look historic?”
– I never considered the possibility before but it might be. It was built in 1930s. I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see when she finally locates the bureaucrat in question.
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I recently had some quebecois guests very impressed with my “historic 1930s” house. I do work without permits but never not up to code. Still, if people wanted to come down and see whether I have permits or not, I would get in trouble, yes. However this is not because the place is on the historic register — it is because you are supposed to guarantee you are not going to do anything to cause a neighborhood fire, etc.
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“you are supposed to guarantee you are not going to do anything to cause a neighborhood fire”
So the local government assumes its residents are all incredibly stupid children who can’t be trusted to not do themselves or others harm?
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I was recently planting a tree, so I got the representatives of all the service companies out here to mark off the underground communications. Not only is that free but it is also very non-intrusive. So I have no beef at all with that procedure.
But the regulation that allows somebody to come inside the house and take photos is completely insane. What if my sister had covered all of the walls with zoophiliac porn? Or was engaging in a massive orgy at the time when the bureaucrat walked in? Is it not her right to do all of these things inside her own house? This is all insane, insane.
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“So the local government assumes its residents are all incredibly stupid children who can’t be trusted to not do themselves or others harm?”
Coming from a state that is subject to highly destructive brush fires, I fully support the regulations that ensure housing is up to code when it comes to wiring etc. One man’s “do it yourself” project can mean an entire neighborhood goes up in flames. In hot dry weather, sometimes these fires are truly frightening and destructive.
However, this isn’t what Clarissa is describing at all. It seems that her sister only made cosmetic renovations to the home and I find it particularly astounding that someone actually entered her sister’s home without her permission. Are search warrants required in Canada? (I always assumed so. But I honestly don’t know.)
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“It seems that her sister only made cosmetic renovations to the home and I find it particularly astounding that someone actually entered her sister’s home without her permission. Are search warrants required in Canada?”
– Exactly! This wasn’t done in the form of a dialogue with her. The bureaucrat in question didn’t try to get in touch, discuss things. He just showed up, snooped around, photographed, calculated the cost of materials (which already betrays a deep distrust of the houseowner. Why not just ask?), and imposed a fine.
And the most bizarre part is the sum of $2,000 that the repairs have to cost to be allowed. How was the sum chosen? Why isn’t it $1,500 or $3,000? How could have anyone guessed that $2,000 was the cut-off amount? This is all shrouded in mystery.
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So, I spoke with a lawyer and turns out that indeed government bureaucrats are allowed to enter a house (even without owners present, as long as someone opens the door) & take pictures as they please! If they show up & no one opens the door, they are allowed to return with police who can forcefully open the door to let them in. No heads up required!
The house is not a historic home and my renos are not in conflict with local codes; it’s a blank law covering all renos for 2k+.
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“So, I spoke with a lawyer and turns out that indeed government bureaucrats are allowed to enter a house (even without owners present, as long as someone opens the door) & take pictures as they please! If they show up & no one opens the door, they are allowed to return with police who can forcefully open the door to let them in. No heads up required!”
– In a rare turn of events, I’m speechless.
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This is all so shocking to me. So how did they get in? (I’m just sincerely curious.) Did the previous owners let them in? Or did the police let them in?
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The workers are there, doing repairs. So they opened the door. Not that it matters because as we just learned, it’s legal to just kick the door down.
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My painters were there; when the inspector ran the bell, they didn’t open because they didn’t know who he was but then he started banging on the window. Once they opened the door, he just walked in and started taking pictures of every room.
It is really traumatizing that it could happen any time!
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“My painters were there; when the inspector ran the bell, they didn’t open because they didn’t know who he was but then he started banging on the window. Once they opened the door, he just walked in and started taking pictures of every room.”
– I’m sure the bureaucrat will soon be granted the right to burn the house down if nobody opens the door.
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