Province expanding rent control threshold
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WINNIPEG — The province is expanding the number of residential units that are subject to rent control.
Starting next year, units with monthly rent as high as $2,000 will be regulated under the Residential Tenancies Act. Currently, the threshold is $1,670 per month.
“This is a good thing,” Right to Housing Coalition spokesperson Yutaka Dirks said Thursday. “For those people who weren’t covered but will now be covered, that’s certainly a positive. It’s something that we called for,” the advocate said.
The coalition wanted the provincial government to go further and remove the threshold so rent control would apply to all residential tenants.
“In our mind, there’s no reason for anyone, regardless of how much rent they pay, to be threatened with the possibility of a huge rent increase every 12 months,” Dirks said.
The province consulted renters, landlords, service providers and other stakeholders online at EngageMB about the rent control expansion announced Thursday. It also asked for feedback on restricting landlords from passing along 100 per cent of renovation expenses to tenants though above-guideline rent increases, which housing advocates are still hoping to see, Dirks said.
Manitoba’s 2027 residential rent guideline will be set at three per cent, the province said Thursday.
The annual rent increase is calculated using a formula set out in the residential rent regulation. It is based on changes in Manitoba’s consumer price index and capped within the Bank of Canada’s inflation-control target range of one to three per cent.
The three per cent guideline takes effect Jan. 1 and applies to most residential rental properties including apartments, single rooms, houses and duplexes.
It does not apply to various types of social housing, rental units owned and operated by, or for, provincial, municipal or federal governments, co-op units, not-for-profit life-lease units, approved rehabilitated rental units and residential rent complexes, and new rental units, which are exempt from the guideline for 20 years.
Tenants must receive written notice of a rent increase at least three months before the increase takes effect. For example, for a rent increase to take effect Jan. 1, tenants must receive notice by Sept. 30, 2026. With few exceptions, rent can only be increased once in a 12-month period.
» Winnipeg Free Press