Some West End residents worried rent increases could force families from their homes
Posted March 12, 2017 11:40 am.
Last Updated March 12, 2017 7:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Tenants of a two-storey walk-up in Vancouver’s West End claim their landlord is trying to hike rents by up to 43 per cent.
They’ve enlisted the help of their local MLA to highlight their cause.
Renters are already sacrificing so much just to live here – @SChandraHerbert @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/9WaA6WooG6
— Hana Mae N. Nassar (@HanaMaeNassar) March 12, 2017
“Most people would think you couldn’t have a 43% rent increase, but the BC Liberals put a small clause in the Residential Tenancy Act that allows landlords to apply for massive rent increases if they can point to any unit somewhere else nearby where that tenant is paying that amount of money,” says Vancouver-West End New Democrat Spencer Chandra Herbert.
The loophole reads that rent increases beyond the usual yearly cap are possible if “the rent for the rental unit is significantly lower than the rent payable for other rental units that are similar to, and in the same geographic area as, the rental unit.”
That yearly cap is two per cent plus inflation.
Amanda has lived in the building at 1565 Harwood St. for ten years and says her family’s rent is about to go up by $430 per month.
She says the thought of leaving is devastating.
“The people in the building are like family now. My daughter said this morning ‘I hope the ones down the hall won’t move, because they are like aunties, down the hall,'” she says.
“We will stay here but we will continue to fight this… because it’s not just for us, it’s for everybody. We love our community so this is not just about us. We’re not moving.”
Some feel this could be an important test case for affordability in the neighbourhood.
Chris Meyers lives in a similar building nearby. “I don’t know what we would do. I wouldn’t want to move out of this neighbourhood, I love this neighbourhood, We’ve got friends here … If our rents went up I don’t think we could afford to stay. We might have to move away and that would be devastating for us.”
The tenants will be taking their case to the Residential Tenancy Branch for arbitration next month.
