B.C. government launches website to deter bad-faith evictions: What you need to know
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If you’re a landlord and you want to kick someone out so you can use the apartment for personal use (ie. for your child), you have to register
A new provincial website intended to protect renters from bad-faith evictions went live last week.
As of July 18, rental suite owners will be required to use the web portal if they want to reclaim those suites for personal or caretaker use.
“The web portal will better protect renters from being evicted in bad faith,” the Housing Ministry said in an email. “Landlords and renters ultimately benefit from an improved rental system that encourages better compliance.”
What are the changes?
Landlords will have to use the portal whenever they plan to issue notices to end tenancy. The portal will explain the conditions required for eviction and the penalties for bad-faith evictions, as well as any amount of compensation landlords will be required to issue to evicted tenants.
Landlords giving notices to end tenancy will be required to include information about the people moving into the home.
Under the Residential Tenancy Act, a landlord can evict a tenant if they or a close family member, such as a parent, spouse or child, or a superintendent of the building, are moving in to the unit.
Landlords evicting tenants in bad faith could be ordered to pay displaced tenants 12 months’ rent.
The amount of notice a tenant must receive before being evicted has increased to four months from two. And the time a tenant has to dispute an eviction has increased to 30 days from 15. Also, the person moving in must occupy the home for at least 12 months.
Why does the province feel it’s necessary?
The information collected will allow post-eviction audits to ensure landlords have followed through on their stated reason to end the tenancy.
“The portal will help ensure notices are properly completed with all required information and records attached.”
The time tenants have to dispute evictions was increased to 30 days from 15 to allow them time to find support or advice.
“The extension to 30 days gives them more time to gather information and resources accordingly when deciding whether to apply for dispute resolution.”
Landlords are being required to give four months’ notice to give renters more time to find another home, the ministry said.
“This change is also consistent with the time period for other four-month notices for demolition or conversion of the rental unit, as well as for major renovations.”
How do landlords feel about the portal?
“The actual portal itself is perfectly fine,” said Hunter Boucher, vice-president of operations with Landlord B.C. “Essentially, it’s like filling out a form, it’s not too much different than filling out a PDF except it prompts you for information.”
“How often are evictions disputed? How often are bad-faith evictions actually occurring? All we really know are anecdotal accounts which are occasionally problematic, certainly. Having hard data on that is an important factor,” Boucher said.
Is the portal good news for tenants?
“The short answer is yes,” said Rob Patterson of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre.
It looks like tenants will get a little more information from landlords who give notice, such as the name of the person who will be moving in, which should help determine whether the landlord is telling the truth, Patterson said.
“For many tenants who got eviction notices previously without knowing who was moving in, it could be very hard, first of all, to know if the landlord was even telling the truth,” he said. “You couldn’t check the landlord’s story at all.
“Hopefully those bad-faith landlords will be more hesitant to lie to the government (than they are to tenants) about their intentions.”
“Now, even if a tenant loses (an appeal), they will have time to find a new rental unit,” Patterson said.
Tenants report that personal-use notices are the most cited reasons for evictions, he added, because it was the form of eviction with the least tenant protections.
“If you’re going to be taking back a unit from a tenant while we’re in the middle of a housing crisis, it should only happen where it’s going to be used for a primary residence.”
