Renters’ rights get boost

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/06/2010 (5632 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For renters in Winnipeg’s razor-thin rental market, some good news: today, the provincial government will proclaim new legislation that will beef up tenants’ rights.

Under the new rules, landlords will have to give tenants a lengthier notice before they must clear out to make way for renovation or demolition crews, up from the current three months. If the rental vacancy rate falls too low, then tenants must get even more time. And landlords who don’t follow the rules will now face stiffer penalties.

The legislation will go into effect on June 30.

The new rules will shrink a legal loophole that allows landlords to sometimes circumvent rent controls and tenant protections during a condo conversion.

But the new legislation comes too late to help Franz Wach. On Wednesday, Wach, 57, sat amidst the detritus of a quarter-century of life in his third-floor suite, and waited to be evicted.

"There’s no humanity left anymore," he said. "It’s like you don’t exist."

Late last year, tenants at 1030 Grant Ave. learned they would have to leave their suites. Once many were moved out, it was announced the building would become condominiums. By Wednesday, Wach was one of the last three tenants left, he said, and he struggled to find an apartment he could afford on his disability pension. Earlier this year, Wach called his landlord and lost his temper. "I vented my frustration… How’d they like it if I came and took their home from them?"

That outburst is why Wach was evicted nine days before his lease was up. But even if he hadn’t lost his cool, he’d still be leaving.

In a straightforward apartment-to-condo conversion, provincial law gives tenants the right to live in their suite for as long as they’ve occupied it. But if landlords sign on for a major renovation, the Residential Tenancies Act releases them from rent control and allows them to make tenants move out. In some cases, the rents skyrocket after renovations. In others, the now-unoccupied suites are flipped into condos.

Housing advocates fear the impact of rents that sometimes double after a rehab scheme could push Winnipeg’s chronically low vacancy rate — which sits at about 1.1 per cent — closer to crisis. "It’s a big concern," said Clark Brownlee of non-profit advocacy group Right to Housing. "I know there are people who are no longer in a home, who are living with friends, who are living out of their cars (because of rehabilitation schemes)."

Brownlee says it will take a range of public and private initiatives to renew the housing market, including changes to federal tax laws to make rental housing more financially viable for landlords, and zoning changes to spur private developers to create more average-cost apartments.

Maybe someday, it’ll help Wach. For now, he keeps a sleeping bag in his ’98 Dodge Caravan, which he feared could become his new home.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca