To the Honourable the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, in Legislature Assembled:

The petition of the undersigned, of Landlord Rights Association of BC., states that:

The Landlord Rights Association of BC. and landlords of British Columbia hereby, request that Government of British Columbia revise the outdated residential tenancy laws so that landlords can achieve a sense of security when it comes to renting and investing in their properties. 

The rule of law requires everyone to be treated equally in the eyes of the law. The laws in British Columbia must be fair, effective, and equal for tenants & landlords. 

We strongly believe and it is evident from various cases that current tenancy laws are being abused by far too many problematic tenants for their own advantage. These problematic tenants take advantage of outdated laws and create a chilling effect that discourages potential and existing landlords from renting out viable space and thereby depriving a vast number of renters of potential rental opportunities. 

In our view, tenancy law reform equals greater access to affordable housing for tenants.

A poll was conducted by Leger/Vancouver Sun on August 11, 2023, on the Housing Affordability and Rental Concerns in B.C. showed that more than a third of British Columbians revealed they have space in their home that could be rented out, but they are reluctant to rent. 

“We have done other surveys where the No. 1 reason that we found is people are worried about problem tenants,” said Steve Mossop, executive vice-president at Leger, which conducted the survey. Source: Vancouver Sun and www.leger360.com

This poll further found that homeowners feel mortgage rate increases and caps on rent increases mean the economics for renting out a suite in a home is not favourable.

The realities and challenges of today’s housing market are changing dramatically, and it is time to open more doors to prevent existing rentals to be sold to owners that will move in themselves and to find fresh solutions to improve security and fairness for both renters and landlords. 

Tenancy law reform can create greater rental opportunities, including for those less fortunate and marginalized. Many landlords are losing confidence in current tenancy laws due to lack of security and fairness. One third of potential landlords in British Columbia are deciding not to rent and many existing ones will sell and thus reduce rentals. We are afraid that this number could grow in the near future if the government fails to address these real land pressing concerns.

Here are 10 examples of challenges with potential solutions.

1.            RESIDENTIAL TENANCY BRANCH DECISIONS TOO SLOW:   Landlords and tenants are left in a dubious state when they wait for months to resolve disputes and problematic tenants who are misusing the strained system for their own benefit. The slow process and lack of enforcement are important concerns for tenants but especially landlords.

The phrase “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied” is of a crucial importance and the growing delay is very concerning. Major reforms are required to protect landlords and tenants from unnecessary delayed decision by providing justice in timely and efficient manner. 

Below is the chart showing number of weeks to hearing.

Month/Year         Emergency Dispute   Regular Hearing   Deferred Hearing
February 2020          1 Weeks                      5 Weeks             5.7 Weeks
January 2021            4.9 Weeks                   10 Weeks           14.7 Weeks
January 2022            4.2 Weeks                   16.8 Weeks         30.85 weeks
Sep 2022                  4.1 Weeks                    14.9 Weeks        18 Weeks
                                                               Source:  Residential Tenancy Branch

Recommended Solutions: If the tenant does not object to a dispute the final decision should be delivered and enforceable on the 10th day for One Month Notice, on the 15th day for Two Month Notice and on the 30th day for Four Month notice. Make the process simple, fast, efficient by eliminating the hearing process to obtain order of possession.

If a tenant exercises his/her right to dispute, then a decision must be made within a reasonable time but not more than one (1) month after filing a case with RTB. 

2.            FIXED TERM: As of December 11, 2017, fixed term tenancy agreements can no longer include a vacate clause requiring a tenant to move out at the end of the term. As per section 13.1(2) of the Residential Tenancy Regulation, “a landlord is only allowed to vacate a rental unit at the end of fixed term tenancy agreement if the landlord is an individual who, or whose close family member, will occupy the rental unit at the end of the term.” 

We suggest restoring a fixed term clause in Residential Tenancy Agreement by removing Section 13(1) of the RTR restriction. Make a required change that tenant must vacate at end of term in any circumstance, unless extended in writing.

This will solve many problems facing landlords as it will end problem tenancies very effectively. This measure alone will provide the landlords with peace of mind and a tool to handle problematic tenants.

No landlord would like to let their good tenants go. A FIXED TERM can be used for problematic tenants and raise no concerns for tenants who abide by the law. 

A FIXED TERM CLAUSE is working successfully in the provinces of Alberta, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland that a fixed term tenancy begins and ends on specific dates. 

We request the government to take same approach and a fixed term tenancy ends on the day specified in the rental agreement without any reason and a fixed term tenancy can not be continued on a month-to-month basis, unless agreed by the landlord and tenant in writing. 

3.            RENT INCREASE:  The rent increase for 2024 is 3.5% that is good initiative by BC Government, but this is still well below the 12-month average Consumer Price Index of 5.4%. To manage the landlords’ skyrocketing expenses such as mortgage, insurance, property tax, utilities, and maintenance fees, we urge the government to restore rent increase formula prior to 2018. 

Before 2018, allowable annual rent increases were based on the inflation rate plus 2.0% but starting January 1, 2019, rent increase was reduced to the inflation rate and for the purposes of section 43(1) (a) of the Act, a landlord may impose a rent increase that is no greater than the amount calculated as; percentage amount=inflation rate.

As per Residential Tenancy Regulation, “inflation rate” means the 12- month average percent change in the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) for British Columbia ending in the July that is most recently available for the calendar year for which a rent increase takes effect. As per Statistics Canada CPI in August 2023 was 4% and in September 3.8%

Nova Scotia: Tenancy regulations changed in March 2023 and set the rent increase cap at five per cent per year starting January 1, 2024. 

New Brunswick: January 1, 2023, ended a cap of 3.8% on rent increases and now landlords allowed to increase rent by 7.3% per year. 

Alberta: No limit on the amount by which the landlord may raise the rent where raising the rent is permissible.

Saskatchewan: Does not have a rent control policy and there are no limits to how much a landlord may increase the rent. Rent may be increased by either a percentage or dollar amount. 

Rents across Canada: Source: Statistics Canada August 2023

Month              BC       ON        QC         SK         MB       NS       AB        NL
July 2023         5.4%       6.0%      5.8%    1.1%    4.8%      7.5%    3.6%    2.0%
August 2023    5.8%       6.9%      6.8%    2.3%    6.1%      9.5%    6.5%    8.4%
Difference        0.4%       0.9%     1.0%     1.2%    1.3%      2.0%    2.9%    6.4%
                Above data clearly indicates that rent increase in BC is far behind as compared to other provinces. 

BELOW MARKET RENT: Landlord’s major concern that there are too many tenants are renting the same place for a long period of time and paying well below the market rent. The landlords are not allowed to increase the rent more than 3.5% in 2024.This is often insufficient to offset the landlords increase costs let alone allow for a reasonable profit.

We further suggest that the landlords must be allowed to raise the rent (as per current and fair market rent) for those tenants who are paying well below market rent. 

To bring fairness, we suggest establishing a “MARKET RENT BANK” for all the cities across the province just like WWW.RENTALS.CA which records average and median rent rates. Landlords can use this tool to determine a fair rent, and tenants can see that they are being charged a fair market rent. Transparency and access to information could reduce disputes and increase goodwill.

4.            COLLECTION OF UNPAID RENT, UNPAID UTILITIES, FILING FEES, COST FOR REPAIRS CAUSED BY THE DAMAGE TO THE PROPERTY & EVICTION COSTS.  

One difficult issue landlords are facing is to locate and then collect money from tenants who cause serious damage to a property or began withholding rent for any reason.

It can often take many months for an RTB hearing. In the meantime, an unscrupulous tenant can withhold rent & utilities and damage the property, while knowing that if the RTB rules against them they can move out and there is little practical recourse the landlord can take to recoup losses. The tenants can be difficult to locate, have limited assets or hide their assets, and the legal costs can be prohibitive for even attempting to enforce an RTB or court order.

We suggest four ways to address this challenge, so landlords feel assurance and confidence that the system is working fairly to protect them.

a)    Require that during ongoing dispute, the tenant must be under legal obligation to pay rent & utilities to landlord or to the RTB and if they pay to RTB, these funds will be held in RTB trust until final decision.

b)    Create an INSURANCE PROGRAM for tenants. The purpose of this insurance is to assure the landlords that they can recover unpaid rent, unpaid utilities, filing fee, cost for damage and cost related to eviction (such as hiring a bailiff) through tenant’s insurance in case tenant is at fault. Make it mandatory for a tenant to have this insurance in place before start of a tenancy.

c)    Start a “FINANCIAL POOL” or “RENT RELIEF PROGRAM” jointly funded by the province and municipalities. If a landlord unsuccessful to recover money from the tenant, then landlord’s monetary damage must be recovered from this pool. (Source of revenue for this pool will be money collected from Property Transfer Tax (provincial) and Property Tax(municipal)).

d)    Increase damage deposit amount equal to at least two months of rent rather than half month damage deposit. Half month rent is far too low and almost always causes losses to landlords even for normal but sloppy tenants. 

5.            PUBLISH RESIDENTIAL TENANCY BRANCH DECISIONS: Include the full names of the parties, both tenants and landlords. This is consistent with the theme of transparency. In this way both tenants and landlords can quickly obtain information on potentially difficult tenants or unfair landlords and discourage problematic and repeat offenders.

Consider starting an online service portal to collect a centralized database of tenant and landlord information with their credit scores. This measure will help landlords to screen tenants by reviewing rental applications. 

If privacy is an issue, then create a “AUTHORIZATION FORM” which will help landlord and tenant to obtain information with their consent from the RTB.

BC government’s Court Service Online tool is good example which provides access to the public court record including the Provincial ticket records and Provincial criminal records. 

6.            REDUCE COST RELATED TO EVICTION:  We urge to give authority to the Residential Tenancy Branch that once RTB made a final decision on order of possession in the favour of landlord; an order of the director under tenancy law must be final, binding, and enforceable on the person subject to the decision or order. We suggest eliminating the need to obtain writ of possession. 

To evict a tenant and their belongings, it is a legal requirement solely at the expense of the landlord to hire authorized court bailiff, moving company and locksmith (if applicable).

The true cost of evicting a tenant can be in the range of $5,000 to $10,000. This flawed system is costly, time-consuming and an unnecessary burden on the landlord. We suggest the landlords can use their own means of self-eviction by taking these steps:

a)    on the eviction date, instead of hiring a bailiff, the landlord evicts the tenant in the presence of a police officer. Make a provision that landlord can seek help from a police officer providing a minimum of 24-hour notice to the police. If there is any cost related to police officer services, landlords are willing to pay that minimal cost. 

b)    Or the landlord hires a security company.

7.            DEFINITION OF CLOSE FAMILY MEMBER: As per Section 49(1) of Residential Tenancy Act a “close family member” means in relation to an individual, the individual’s parent, spouse or child or the parent or child of that individual’s spouse. 

Due to temporary and permanent immigration policies, family members of the landlord or landlord’s spouse are making BC their home and they are in a dire need of a roof over their head when they arrive in BC. 

We suggest increasing the scope of “Close Family Member” by including landlord or landlord’s spouse’s; grandparents, brother, sister, their children and / or any relation by blood, marriage, and adoption to be considered as a close family member.

In Alberta relative includes any relation by blood, marriage, or adoption or by virtue of an adult interdependent relationship. (Alberta Residential Tenancies Act)

Saskatchewan: Close family member or friend means; individual’s or individual’s spouse, their child, a parent or legal guardian, a brother or sister, a grandparent, an uncle or aunt, a nephew or niece (Residential Tenancies Act 2006)

8.            NOTICE AND COMPENSATION: Current law allows the tenant to end tenancy by providing One Month Notice but in most circumstances in addition to One Month Notice, the landlord needs to provide 2 & 4 months notice to the tenant. The notice requirements should be the same. 

As per law, if landlord provides a Two Month or Four Month notice to the tenant, then landlord must compensate tenant an amount equal to one month’s rent. We request to make it fair, so landlord does not need to compensate the tenant.

Compensation for Ending a Tenancy: As per Sec 51 of the RTA, if the tenant proves on a balance of probabilities that the landlord has failed to meet the obligation and vacated the rental unit in bad faith, the landlord must pay the tenant an amount that is the equivalent of 12 times the monthly rent payable under the tenancy agreement.  On the principles of fairness, equality, and reasonableness, we request to introduce a legislation that if tenant withholds rent and/or damage property in bad faith, the tenant must pay the landlord compensation. 

9.            ABANDONMENT OF PROPERTY: Storing and disposing of tenant’s abandoned property is an extra financial burden on the landlord. Make a required change so that once the tenant is ordered to vacate the property, the onus must shift on the tenant to remove their personal property and belongings within 48 hours of such a decision. If tenant fails to comply within this binding time frame, then the landlord is allowed to dispose off tenant’s personal property and belongings, without a provision to store in a safe place for 60 days at landlord’s expense. This measure will help to remove unnecessary financial burden on the landlords.

Ontario: a) If Sheriff evicts the tenant and once 72 hours has passed, the landlord can sell, keep, or dispose of the tenant’s property without any liability. b) If tenant moves out for any one of reasons, a notice, or an agreement to terminate or a board order then, in most cases, the landlord may immediately sell, keep, or dispose of any property the tenant has left behind. 

In BC the landlord can get rid of tenant’s items if the abandoned items are worth less than $500, as compared to Saskatchewan and Alberta this value is too low, in those provinces landlord can dispose of tenant’s abandoned property if a total market value is less than $1500 and $2000 respectively. Manitoba: If the landlord believes the items have no monetary value, or are unsanitary or unsafe to store, the landlord may dispose of them, without authorization from the Branch. 

10.         MAKE SERVICE OF DOCUMENTATION EASIER: In the era of modern, smart phone, internet & digital technology changes are required to make it more convenient, fast & efficient, how the landlord and tenant can serve a notice, monetary order notice or other documents to each other. 

Currently, the law allows few methods to serve a notice such as give a copy directly, send via registered or regular mail, leave a copy in a mailbox or mail slot, attach a copy to the door or other noticeable place, email can only be used if a party has provided an email address specifically for service, using text messaging not considered an acceptable method.

We suggest making email, text message, social media message or any other electronic means of communication an acceptable mode of serving notice to each other. Serving a monetary order notice to a tenant in person is very challenging. 

During hearing process, landlord and tenant should provide a forwarding mailing address & email or any other electronic means of communication to the RTB, so that notice can be served via these sources of communications. It will help to locate and serve the notice to the parties easily. 

Your petitioners respectfully request that the Honourable House to address above mentioned demanding concerns of landlords of B.C to provide more affordable housing for renters and to induce large and small landlords to invest in their rental properties.