Joanna Reid pays $1,059 a month to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver’s Fairview Slopes neighbourhood. Last week, tenants received a notice indicating their rent may be going up 35 per cent.
For Reid, that adds up to an extra $370 a month.
“If someone is successful doing this to us, then no one is safe,” she said.
The landlord of the building, located in the 1000-block of West 13th Avenue wants to raise the rent above this year’s legally-capped limit of 3.7 per cent under a clause of the Residential Tenancy Regulation. The province currently caps annual rent increases at 3.7 per cent, but landlords can apply for exceptions if the rent they are currently charging is significantly lower than what is being charged for similar suites nearby.
“It’s all over the board, really, and it’s due to the fact there is a zero per cent vacancy rate in this city and that’s not going to change,” Reid said.
Last week, residents in the West End rallied after learning their rent could increase by 43 per cent. After hearing about that story, tenants in the Fairview building reached out to their MLA.
WATCH: Some West End residents worry rent increases will force families from their homes
“We need to set up a system where landlords can’t serve notice of an increase until they’ve got to the residential tenancy branch and proven that they have a legitimate case,” Vancouver Fairview MLA George Heyman said.
During question period in the legislature last week, Rich Coleman, the minister responsible for housing, said tenants have the right to dispute the increase.
“In the last few years there’s been 15 of these applications. One of the applications was settled between the landlord and the tenants. Three have been approved and the others have actually been turned down” he said.
Reid fears if the rent hike is approved other renters could easily face similar increases.
“Every landlord can take this as a precedent and go ahead forward and use this clause,” she said.
Both sides will be able to make a case before the Residential Tenancy Branch at a hearing on May 2.
– With files from Grace Ke and Jill Slattery
Comments