This month, the BC government is launching a website intended to help protect renters from being unfairly evicted.
According to the Province, this new online tool will also help improve processes for landlords.
The BC government says that they acknowledge that some landlords need to reclaim their homes in certain circumstances such as a first-time homebuyer who wants to live in their new home.
However, numerous situations of “bad-faith” evictions, or evictions made under false pretences continue to happen.
In many of these cases, landlords evict tenants under the guise of moving into the home themselves, only to drastically increase the cost of rent and find new tenants.
“With this new tool, we’re taking action to better protect tenants from being evicted under false pretences and ensure that landlords who need to legitimately reclaim their units have a straightforward pathway to do so,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing.
“The portal will also provide government with a window to better understand when and how often these evictions occur so that we can continue to build on our work to improve services for renters and landlords.”
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When the new website launches on Thursday, July 18th, all BC landlords will be required to use the portal to generate ‘Notices to End Tenancy’ for all personal or caretaker occupancy scenarios.
These notices will be required to contain the personal information of the person moving into the home and will detail the significant penalties that landlords will face if they make a bad-faith eviction.
The Province says that under the Residential Tenancy Act, a landlord can evict a tenant only if the following people will be moving in:
- The landlord themselves or a close family member (parent, spouse or child)
- A purchaser of the property or a close family member of the purchaser
- A superintendent for the building
With the website coming online and the new requirements set in stone, the Province is also increasing the amount of notice a tenant must receive and the amount of time they have to dispute an eviction.
Landlords will have to give at least four months notice instead of two when evicting for personal or caretaker use and tenants will have 30 days, rather than 15 days, to dispute an eviction.
These extensions are also coming into effect on July 18th.
The Province added that if the person moving in after the personal or caretaker eviction does not live in the home for at least one full year, the landlord may have to pay their tenant evicted in bad-faith 12-months’ worth of rent.
“Protecting a landlord’s right to reclaim a rental unit for personal use is critical to maintaining a balanced rental housing market,” said David Hutniak, CEO, LandlordBC.
“It is also important that landlords know their responsibilities when exercising this right and that they understand the risks of bad-faith evictions.”
Hutniak added that the website will educate landlords about the process and standardize the process for improved efficiency and transparency.
Metrics and data used by the government will also be improved upon with this tool, according to the Province, as the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) will be able to analyze how often and where these bad-faith evictions are taking place.
