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New rules protect renters

Rent-hike estimates will be required

By: Larry Kusch

Thursday, May. 17, 2012 at 7:32 AM | Comments: 0

The Manitoba government will require landlords to provide tenants with an estimate of future rent increases before they do extensive renovations to a building.

The new provision is one of several amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act proposed this week in a bill before the legislature.

"This will bring more clarity and fairness to the landlord-tenant relationship," Healthy Living, Seniors and Consumer Affairs Minister Jim Rondeau said. "Tenants need to have full information so they can decide what to do when a landlord renovates their buildings."

The new provision looks to prevent landlords from exaggerating future rental cost increases as a way of getting rid of tenants who would be temporarily forced out of their suites because of renovations. Under the law, tenants can have some of their moving expenses paid under these situations.

Rondeau said if the estimated rent is artificial and causes the tenant to move or discourages him or her from exercising a right of first refusal on a suite, the landlord could be required to pay compensation.

Wally Ruban, president of the Professional Property Managers Association, said he didn't think his members would object to the new provision or other amendments contained in the bill.

"I don't have a lot of difficulty with it and I don't think our members of our association would," he said.

Ruban's group represents 65 property owners and managers who oversee 60,000 renal units in Manitoba. He said the association has been aware of the proposed changes since last November.

Also under the proposed amendments:

-- Landlords would have to use prescribed forms when terminating tenancies so that tenants receive important information about their rights.

-- Tenants who wish to object to a rent increase that is at, or below, the guideline increase would have a new framework to explain their reasons.

-- Tenants would not have to pay late-payment fees in some cases.

-- The rights and obligations of a tenant and landlord are clarified in cases where a landlord wants to evict a tenant with a school-aged child during the school year.

Ruban said while his association doesn't object to Bill 28, it wishes the government would better explain its reasoning for how it determines annual rental-increase guidelines.

The allowable increase for this year -- announced three months before the provincial election -- is one per cent. (Landlords can apply to charge more if they've made some unusual investments in a particular building.)

"We in the industry call it the Cadbury's secret," Ruban said of the process government uses to determine rental increases. "There is no explanation. There is no transparency to guideline increases."

He said the province should tie rent increases to measures such as the federal consumer price index.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

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