It is suggested at the outset that the relation between property owners and developers is determined in our society by the capitalist mode of production. An important distinction is made between owner occupied properties and the ones that are not. It is shown that the proportion of the territory controlled by absentee landlords has considerably increased in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood, located in Québec City, between 1950 and 1977. It is also shown that developers use a different strategy with each category of property owners.