West End families seeing huge increases in rent thanks to loophole
 

Came across this in the news today which seems like an interesting situation:
Landlord using loophole to request rent hikes of up to 43% | CTV Vancouver News

cliffs:
- tenants living in building periodically see rent increase 2% per year
- year over year particular building sees an increased assessment up by almost $1mil to $4.91 million (approx 25%)
- landlord uses loophole on some tenants to increase rent by more than 2% (some folks seeing 43% increase)
- people mad they can no longer afford to rent in west end

Who do you deem to be correct in this situation? Whats your stance?

In one case we see landlord wanting to increase their revenue + pay property tax that comes with such a high assessment. People who have lived their for years have only seen a 2% increase of rent which probably hasn't equated to increase in all other costs. On the flip we have the moral high ground where people now cannot live here because of such a significant increase.

Does the increase make it significantly more expensive than other similar rental properties? If it just brings it up to current pricing, then I'm okay with that. It's not cheap to live downtown, and it's not getting any cheaper. It's not like it's low-income housing or anything. The area looks pretty nice, and less than 2 blocks to the beach.

I think that this is just gentrification happening in some of the nicer parts of Vancouver and that all comes with a cost. Although this seems to happen in the more middle to higher class neighbourhoods, im not saying that this doesn't happen everywhere. With rising housing costs in vancouver, with being one of the most livable cities in Canada, I expect this just to keep on continuing unless we set laws or guidelines to protect the exploitation or constant change of rapidly increasing housing costs like this.

Easy.. let the Tenancy branch's dispute resolution do its job and wait for the outcome. Rules are rules..

Dispute Resolution - Province of British Columbia

Get one thing straight with this story.

The landlords are only applying to increase rents. Nothing has been implemented yet.

It's not a loophole. There are special ways per the RTA that rent increases beyond the standard amounts. To do this, it has to be approved by the Tenancy Board first.

Exactly.. the tenants should have thought strategically.. I won't be surprised that now the relationship between the landlord and tenants have soured that they get reno-victed etc in the near future.

Bringing in the press before the process had ran its course has pretty much sealed their fate.

Oh I would bet the original owners of the holding company had passed on and the next generation who are more financial savvy did the math and went for the increase.

For my rentals I just get the tenants to sign a lease every year so I can set the price every year for whatever I want. How bow dah

Can you elaborate on this?

If you have a fixed term lease with the lease ending in evacuation of the suite or whatever the terminology is, you can renegotiate with the current tenant as you would someone new who you advertise for as their lease is up.

At least that's how I think it works

yup 1 year term, must leave after 1 year period is up....if they choose to rent again at a higher rate then that's up to them

don't do year to year because then you can only up it 2% or same on multi year rentals

on a tenancy agreement with a 1 year term you can select at the end of the term it automatically switches over to month to month, or you can select tenant must move out. which you can obviously renew prior to the end of the term.

its also a great way to boot out shit tenants. you might be stuck with them for a year, but you can at least get rid of them.

infact, if you follow proper procedures during the rental process, you can cover yourself fairly well to have the law in your favor not the tenant

From what i've heard the increase will bring the rental rates up to par with the rest of the area (I haven't seen any docs or anything, just what i've heard) If that's the case I don't have a problem with it.

its a fairly simple process to goto arbitration to increase above the the standard allowable rent increase (for 2017 is 3.7%. it fluctuates between about 2 and 4.5% per year). you can bring up the rent to market average, or increase based on your costs going up (property taxes, utilities, etc)

If the rent is below market value because the ppl that live there have lived there for years and years I see justify why the landlord wants to increase to the market rate. I mean if the market rate for current rent is 30% higher than what the landlord is getting than yea increase it.

Can't afford to rent in Van. Move. Is as simple as that. The landlord owes you nothing they can increase the price all they want.

I am all in for free market in terms of renting. If the rent is too high then on one will rent it. if the price is too low than you got a deal.

RTA should have more protection for landlord. I mean when I rented out my apartment years ago. It took months to evict a tenant who didn't pay rent. Basically she paid one month rent and live there for a good 4 months. If she didn't pay I as a landlord should be able to legally remove her my place right away. The whole process sucks and while she is living there free loading off me I still have to pay for the cable/internet, utilities since I included them.

If you decide to become a lifelong renter, you better have a long term plan for your security. The majority of them are older. Barring any disabilities, they could have easily bought a condo at some point during their adult lives. This would have provided them with housing security.

Now, they are at the mercy of the RTB and the landlord. Thems the breaks in life.

I'm usually in favour of landlord rights but this is a harsh group here.

Sounds all fine and dandy until they string you along, destroy your property and squat until your court order and bailiff kicks them out.

They have so much excuses and rights rendering your contract useless. How bow dah.

That's what happen to me. And from that point on I basically do credit checks and even stalk them on social media, search their name on google to see if I ran into any red flags.

If someone fucked me over hard enough on a rental property you'd better beleive they would be regretting it shortly after.

Not trying to be dat e-thug but people get hurt over a few hundred all the time, if someone cost me a few thousand plus I'd be going out of my way to destroy them.

I thinks it's just because too many people (ie. renters) feel entitled nowadays. If the owners has given you the benefit of low rent and property values have now sky rocketed, don't be but hurt when the rent increases along with his rising costs. (property taxes, garbage & sewer, hydro, etc...) If you can't afford the rent maybe you should look for an area where it's affordable relative to your income. No sympathy for someone living in the West end complaining about rent increases.

That's what I don't really get about some people and their living situation

Some of the losers my fiances sister associates with live in east/south van paying $800-$1000 for basically a room in a house when you've got a school aged child

Go live somewhere where you can actually establish a half decent life not share a ducking bed with your child in a room in a house with 8 other people, it's gross.

It's hard to win when dealing with trash that have nothing to lose. Yeah you could do something to them, but they know where you live and I'd personally be worried about my property getting fucked with after.

Yeah if you want some stability , you gotta put on the big boy pants and buy something.

Of course then those are probably the same people that will push the whole "Renting gives me freedom, you're not tied down to an asset with as much risk if you lose your job, blah blah blah" etc...

I'm sorry renters, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Mind you, there's no guarantee to stable interest rates even if you buy something, so these people simply want to be exempt from the effects simple economics that everyone else faces.

The risks of long-term renting have not adequately been discussed in financial blogs and forums, while the risks of home ownership have been overblown.

Both choices come down to lifestyle. While renting is often touted as a lifestyle choice, the reality is that the majority of renters stay put and seek stability in their employment.