"This is not enough": Critics condemn BC's new rent increase limit

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It’s official: BC’s rent cap for next year is out, and while some are celebrating that it has been lowered, there is also plenty of condemnation online that the amount is still far off track.

Starting next month, some renters can receive a notice from their landlords about the upcoming 3% increase for 2025. For example, if you currently pay $1,700 a month, you could pay about $50 more per month starting in January.

Some renters say it will still hurt their bottom line.

Not good enough. 3% of my rent is $51.60 per month … I don’t cost my building $620 in new expenses in a year.
Basing rent increases by percentages now, doesn’t make sense. It is literally fuelling inflation. @Dave_Eby
At a certain point this has to be halted.

— DivestedAttention (@DivestedAttent) August 26, 2024

Another renter pointed out that they don’t make more next year than they did this year, so why should their landlord?

“Do wages increase that fast to offset any rise in inflation?” they wrote on X.

The amount is slightly less than what eligible landlords were allowed to do last year, as the BC government capped it at 3.5% for 2024. Many others are outraged that this decrease will impact landlords and the cost of managing increasingly expensive rental properties.

According to some commenters, the 3% increase will have a drastic effect on everyone, including the renter’s living experience.

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“3% does not even come close to covering increasing op costs, insurance and property taxes… expect [landlords] to cut corners on maintenance and capital upgrades. There’s no choice when you handcuff them with insufficient increases,” one person shared on Daily Hive Urbanized.

Have they also capped property taxes?

— TheMadPhantom (@TheMadPhantom1) August 26, 2024

Another agreed, echoing the ongoing costs associated with owning a property in the region.

“With property taxes going up between 5 and 10 percent, city utilities increasing by more than 5 percent, and house insurance going up 15 percent, a 3 percent rent increase isn’t enough for many landlords especially those with mortgages where renewal this year and next will see huge increases to interest costs and payments,” the commenter said.

I can hear the supply shrinking from here.

— Prairie Guy (@foothillsedge) August 26, 2024

The CEO of Landlord BC echoed that sentiment in his response to Monday’s announcement. When we asked David Hutniak what number he had hoped the minister of housing would announce, he said, “The number would not be acceptable to the minister.”

“The reality is, you know, that’s still woefully inadequate in the context of what it actually costs to run a rental business,” he said.

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The 2025 rent cap decreased from 2024, which was set at 3.5%; however, the difference between 2024 and 2025 is more than just math. In 2023 and 2024, the number was below inflation, and Hutniak applauds the change.

“What we have been asking for is that back in September 2018, or prior to that date I should say, the formula was 2% plus the [Consumer Price Index.] So, there was the impact of CPI plus an additional 2% to allow for repair, maintenance, etc. That formula had been in existence for decades, literally, and unfortunately, the BC NDP decided to eliminate that 2%.”

“We’ve said, at a minimum, the minister should move back to that formula.”

However, the government doesn’t appear to feel the same way.

“Tying the annual allowable rent increase to inflation is consistent with the recommendations from the Rental Housing Task Force to support renters and ensure that rental homes can stay available for renters,” said Spencer Chandra Herbert, the premier’s liaison for renters.

“Capping rent increases to inflation has saved families and households in BC thousands of dollars since 2017, as we have eliminated the old government’s automatic 2% rent increase on top of inflation,” the MLA for Vancouver West End added in Monday’s press release.

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He adds that 5% would still not be sufficient, as many landlords he knows are in a “negative cash flow” and have not recovered financially from the pandemic, but it would be a good starting point and ensure that the sector stays viable.

“This is not enough, obviously, but it’s finding that balance. We know the government is concerned about how much traditional rent renters have to pay. We get that. But you know, again, not to sound too redundant, as I’ve said to [the housing minister] many times, ‘you can’t keep helping renters while harming landlords.'”

He credits the $400 rental rebate through the renters’ tax credit as one policy that relieves financial pressure on both the landlord and the renters.

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“We’re a community amenity. We’re providing a critical service. We just feel that the government needs to sit down with us and look for other solutions, and that’s in the form of tax breaks.”

Plus, he supports the efforts to increase supply and the ministry’s long-term investments to build more affordable housing but suggests that they come on the heels of decades of bad policies, and those new housing projects are still years away. In the short term, he’s pushing for stakeholders to come back to the table.

“We need to find some new solutions,” he said. “We’re just not there at this juncture in terms of finding solutions that will offer sort of more broad-based support for our sector.”

What do you think of the increase? Comment below or share your experience with us at [email protected]

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