Is this the relief B.C. renters are looking for? Task force calls for tighter rent increase limits
B.C.'s rental housing task force is recommending a tighter cap on allowable rent increases just as renters were bracing for a whopping increase in 2019.
Task force chair Spencer Chandra Herbert said the proposed new formula would limit annual rent increases to the cost of inflation. Currently the formula allows for rents to go up by cost of inflation plus two per cent.
If passed, the 2019 allowable rental increase would be limited to 2.5 per cent, instead of the whopping 4.5 per cent announced earlier this month.
According to Chandra Herbert, the task force heard from many renters about how the current model was making life in B.C. increasingly unaffordable because wages were not keeping pace.
"Renters have been clear that they need this help," he said.
Landlord recommendation
A second recommendation would give landlords the ability to apply for rent increases above the inflation rate if they can show the formula doesn't cover maintenance expenses and other costs.
Landlords would have to apply for the extra increases with receipts of work done, and decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis.
Chandra Herbert said the two recommendations follow similar and successful models in Ontario and Manitoba.
"We believe it's a tradeoff to make sure that rents are affordable and necessary work is done," he said. "We saw too many cases where people were paying year in, year out maximums increases while their properties were falling apart."
Saanich North Green MLA Adam Olsen and Ronna-Rae Leonard, NDP MLA for Courtenay-Comox, are also part of the task force, which was formed in April with the promise of improving tenancy laws and tackling issues around supply and affordability.
The rental market in much of B.C. has been tight for years, with vacancy rates well below one per cent in virtually all major population centres, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
CMHC also measured the average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver in 2017 at $1,552, the highest in the country.
Chandra Herbert said the provincial government will be looking at the task force recommendations this week and that a decision will be made by Oct. 1.
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