Family-use evictions force some Vancouver tenants to pay double rent
“Housing in the Age of Inflation” is a Daily Hive feature series where we speak with renters and homeowners in Metro Vancouver about how meteoric interest rate hikes, ballooning rents, and lack of availability are impacting them. Have a story to tell? Email us at [email protected]
Vancouver renters are calling for more between-tenancy protections as landlord-use evictions force them to pay nearly twice as much rent in Vancouver’s inferno of a housing market.
Landlord-use, or family-occupancy, evictions have become an all-too-familiar trend in Metro Vancouver lately. The number of disputes, a proxy to measure their frequency, has risen steadily since 2021. It has tenants like Kirsten Palmer calling for more renter protections to stabilize rent payments between apartments.
She was forced into the rental market in 2020 when the landlord of her former Olympic Village apartment served her a family-occupancy eviction. She bid goodbye to her $1,400 monthly rent and moved into a $2,300 per month space in Mount Pleasant.
“Vancouver is turning into a place that’s only for the rich,” she told Daily Hive. “We’re going to have to be shuttling in people from three hours away to come work here and shuttle them back out. Like those resort towns in Florida.”
Palmer likes her current apartment but knows her landlord could make more money by evicting her and her partner for a new tenant. Equivalent units in her building go for close to $3,000 a month now.
“There’s no stability for renters,” she told Daily Hive. “You know, God forbid, if something happened here, I’d be shelling out another $700 a month.”
She’s a mature student who gets by on part-time shifts at a homeless shelter and a leave-of-absence paycheque from her previous job. She can afford the basics, but extras are out of the question.
“I still have to make choices, like do I really need that medication this month?”
Once she finishes graduate school, Palmer and her partner want to move out east to one of Canada’s Atlantic provinces. They don’t know anyone out there, but more affordable housing is enough of a draw.
“Being somebody that spends quite a lot of time in the Downtown Eastside … if I’m a fairly fortunate person and I’m struggling, how are these people supposed to live when you’re getting nothing a month on disability or welfare?”
Jeff Hung/Shutterstock
Rent prices in Metro Vancouver have risen rapidly post-pandemic, meaning displaced tenants stand to pay much more than their previous rent. Landlords may also be feeling more pressure than in years past to boot out existing tenants and jack up rents since Canada is dealing with its steepest interest rate hikes in more than 40 years — translating to pricey mortgage renewals for homeowners.
The current environment with population growth, rental rate inflation, and spiking interest rates and mortgage payments has everyone feeling stretched, Realtor Jeff Appelbe told Daily Hive. Everything is increasing but wages, he said, and it’s a “recipe for disaster.”
While tenants are calling for between-tenancy rent controls, Appelbe questions if looser rent control during a tenancy could offset some of these evictions.
“I’ve certainly noticed an uptick in tenanted properties for sale,” he said. “The irony is that tenants with ultra cheap rent are often evicted because their landlord is under water and forced to sell. It’s sort of a lose-lose.”
Fraserview resident Lexie Kulak’s rent nearly doubled from $1,035 to $1,980 monthly when she was served a family-occupancy eviction. (Submitted)
Vancouver renter Lexie Kulak was also served a family-use eviction notice earlier this year and is now paying nearly double her previous rent. She was kicked out of her $1,035 per month apartment and now pays $1,980 monthly at her Fraserview one-bedroom.
“It’s definitely a big toll, emotionally,” Kulak said. “I can’t save as much as at my other place. I can’t travel. My best friend moved away to Fort McMurray, and I had just saved up enough to go visit her for the first time in five years. And now I don’t know when I’m going to be able to visit her.”
Kulak lives on her own in the apartment, but privacy comes at a steep price — more than 50% of her monthly take-home pay.
“It’s more than one of my paycheques, so that’s a little uncomfortable.”
Average asking rents for a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver increased 6% in the last year, following a shocking 30% year-over-year increase from 2021 to 2022. Those numbers are according to Rentals.ca, a platform that lists units for rent in several Canadian cities.
The organization pegs Vancouver’s average asking rent for a one-bedroom at nearly $2,900, a slight decrease from a high this year of $3,000.
The rapid post-pandemic increase means asking rents are now significantly higher than what established tenants pay. On average, renters who’ve been at their place a year or more pay three-quarters of what tenants who’ve moved in this year do.
Landlord-use evictions are one of the few ways homeowners in the region can boot out well-behaved tenants. But they have to ensure they or a close family member actually lives at the property for six months following the eviction. A tenant who finds their old home listed for a higher price or on Airbnb is eligible to receive payment equivalent to 12 months of rent from their previous landlord.
But some housing advocates say that’s not enough, and tenants like Kulak and Palmer agree. When a landlord could make up a penalty in 24 months or less, a 12-month rent payment becomes the cost of increasing revenue.
As for Kulak, the Fraserview renter, she’s grateful to have a stable job. But the experience of getting evicted and paying double rent brought home how expensive living in Vancouver is — and she’s concerned for those who make minimum wage.
“I think housing should be a basic human need. It shouldn’t be a for-profit thing, and it’s just getting out of control. It shouldn’t have to be this way,” Kulak said.
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