Housing rental hike pegged at maximum of 2.6% for 2020 in the province
Tiffany Crawford
The Province
If you rent your home in B.C. you could be paying as much as 2.6 per cent more next year.
That’s the most that landlords are allowed to hike rent in 2020 as set by the B.C. government Wednesday. The province says the hike is tied to the annual rate of inflation.
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Selina Robinson said the government has again this year removed the additional two per cent above inflation rate that had previously been allowed under the former government.
She said, in a news release, that under the old formula, renters would have faced a rent hike of more than nine per cent over 2019 and 2020.
“Because of our changes and the removal of the fixed-term loophole, people will no longer face the unreasonable rent hikes that were allowed for years,” she said.
Last year, B.C. Premier John Horgan announced the rate hike would be limited to 2.5 per cent, based solely on the rate of inflation, in a bid to tackle the affordability crisis, particularly in heated markets such as Vancouver.
Horgan said the change strikes a balance between providing relief for tenants and encouraging landlords to maintain their properties by requiring them to apply for higher increases to cover improvements.
The changes follow early recommendations by a task force appointed by Horgan, and are in line with policies in Ontario and Manitoba.
The executive director of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre, Andrew Nakamoto, said Wednesday that although more can still be done to improve rental affordability in B.C., reducing rent increases by two per cent is a step in the right direction.
A rent increase of 2.6 per cent rather than 4.6 per cent will lead to savings for B.C. tenants, he said, in a statement Wednesday.
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