Notice of rent hikes could be extended: Wall
Saskatchewan’s premier agrees that sudden and soaring hikes in rents are unacceptable.
But that doesn’t mean Brad Wall has become a sudden proponent of rent control.
Wall responded Monday to a CBC News story about a Regina woman who was recently given notice her rent was going up 63 per cent. A spokesperson at the Office of Residential Tenancies said the jump is the highest single hike he's seen.
Gabrielle Patterson said she learned her monthly rent, for a two-bedroom apartment that she shares with a roommate, will rise to $1,100 from $675.
Wall reiterated his opposition to rent control, but said that shouldn’t signal to landowners that they have permission to gouge tenants.
The issue was raised in the legislature Monday.
“I want to say this,” Wall said. “The fact that the government has said we don't think rent control is the answer - that ought not to be a licence or interpreted by anyone in this province that now we have a licence to increase rents at what are an unacceptable level.”
Wall said he’d be willing to consider lengthening the amount of notice landlords give their tenants prior to a large rent increase to one year, to give people time to move should they choose to. Currently, landlords are required to give six months notice.
The average rent increase in Regina is in the single-digits, Wall added.
Opposition leader Dwayne Lingenfelter, however, said anything short of rent control won’t do.
“I think the reason the landlord is raising it by 100 per cent is because they can… if you raise it five or six per cent that would give them lots of opportunity to do repairs, to do fixing if it had to be done,” Lingenfelter said.
