Tenancy Law Changes coming
Over the past few years the BC government has implemented multiple changes to laws which affect the rental market. They are proposing multiple changes to BC tenancy laws in the near future.
One of the changes is the notice period required for landlords to provide a tenant when they want to re-occupy the unit for owner use. This would be required when a tenancy is on a month to month agreement. Previously the notice period for landlord use was two months. The government changed it, and increased the notice requirement to four months. They adjusted a portion of the notice period to three months which was only applied to purchasers of the property. This reduced the notice period to three months for people buying a tenanted property. For landlords wanting to move back into their own rented property it remained at four months notice.
This created some confusion in the market when providing notice to vacate a tenant.
The main reasoning behind reducing the notice to three months for new purchasers was banks don’t often provide more than three months for holding an interest rate for buyers searching for a new home, which was affecting the ability of purchasers to buy tenanted properties.
This week the government has announced it will change the legislation again, reducing the notice period for landlords from four months to three months, to align both of these notice periods. This means landlords and new buyers will both only need to provide the three month notice to move into the tenanted property.
They are also proposing changes to landlord requirements for tenants abandoned property. Currently when a tenant leaves property behind which was valued over $500 a landlord is required to hold these items for 60 days providing a tenant time to return and claim these items. The proposed changes are reducing the holding time from 60 days to 30 days and increasing the value amount from $500 to $1000.
One other change is they are planning to have the RTB publish monetary order decisions starting this summer. They are already publishing decisions of hearings held, I can only assume this is going to have more information and potentially details of the participants. This would be helpful to landlords if tenants have had issues with unpaid rent in the past. Another tool to verify a tenant’s suitability for renting a property.
All of these changes require the BC legislation to be changed so this will take some time before they are implemented.
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2025HMA0027-000307
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Is it hard to find housing in Vancouver?
Reading a recent article about the affordability of rental housing in Vancouver suggests renters are struggling to find housing in their budget. Why is this? Is this a new problem?
I moved to Vancouver in 1991 when I was 24 years old. The 1980s were a very slow economy in Canda and BC was no different coming out of a recession at that time.
I struggled to find employment and housing at that time that was “affordable”. Affordability in Vancouver housing has been a topic for the entire time living in the area.
I moved here with my sister and we first rented a basement unit in Richmond as that was what we could afford. We then moved to 4th Ave. in Vancouver renting a two bedroom apartment for $800 per month. That apartment like many rental properties in Vancouver did not have in suite laundry. It was in the building, and we had to pay to use the laundry. I moved from there to a bachelor apartment which was a 400 sq foot one room apartment, and I rented for $400 per month. I moved out of that unit when the landlord increased the rent to $475 per month which was a 16% increase in the rent. This was allowed as at tht time there were no restrictions on the limits for a rent increase. I moved in with a friend temporarily until my partner and I then rented a one bedroom unit together.
I finally bought my first home when I was 30 years old moving to Port Moody. Until I lived in five different properties in the Vancouver area, and none of them had laundry in the unit.
As property manager today I am surprised by young people’s expectations when trying to rent a property. Many advise they won’t rent a place without laundry in the unit, and don’t want gas appliances due to the environment. At the same time they complain about the cost of housing. I am confused by this disconnect. When you want more services there is a cost to those additional expectations.
The article also suggests that some people don’t want to share a space. The majority of the properties built in recent years have been two bedroom units meaning smaller units are not available. The reason for this is the public was advicing there was not enough spaces for families due to the lack of single famly homes not being built which increased condo to multiple bedroom units. Many people lived with friends and roommates in their youth. It is normal for that to happen.
I have heard many people leave to go live in our neighbour province of Alberta when the economy slows and for years have seen many return a year or two later. The rent cost might be less expensive, but they don’t account for all the other expenses to live. Alberta is colder than Vancouver meaning heating costs are higher, like Ontario it is vast and requires most people to own a car to perform any task which adds costs.
The Vancouver rental market is slowing down and will continue to slow over the next two years. This will be caused by a slow down in the development of new products. The higher interest rates followed by various government changes including Air BNB, and immigration changes for example. This is creating developers to slow down on new developments. We will see this change in about two years after all the current product being built is completed and there are no new products being started. This may surprise people, this isn’t the first time this has happened in Vancouver. I have seen multiple slow downs in the economy and each time developers stop building, decreasing the supply of the product.
At the moment the supply of rental prices is greater than the demand of tenants looking. This is putting pressure on the rental prices and rents are decreasing. We don’t expect a stop to this downard pressure for two or three years.
The article also mentions that young people are finding it harder to search for properties due to the large number of websites that have properties advertised for rent. The internet has made searching for a rental property easy. It has also helped grow the individual condo and housing rental market. Before the internet, finding a condo to rent would be very diffficult. The ad would need to be in the local newspaper and only printed a few times per week. Renting from an apartment building meant going to the neighbourhood and visiting the building to see if there were any units available. The process for renting has shortened dramatically.
Today renters can view the property online, the area of the property is located, apply and send payments for the property from your home without actually visiting the unit. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
Affordability has always been a concern and always will be. What one person considers affordable another doesn’t.
Need help managing your investment properties. Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
Tariffs and the rental market?
The economy is always challenging even in good times. When slower times occur, businesses have to adapt to the situation. Operating a rental property is owning a business. The recent challenge to the economy is the tariffs being threatened and applied by the US on Canada, Mexico and other countries. How could this affect the rental market in BC.
The tariff threat is causing uncertainty in the economy on both sides of the border, which often leads to people holding off on spending. The rental market and the housing sales market are interlinked and affect each other. When the sales market slows it creates a depressed rental market, and when the sales market is active it creates a tighter rental market.
For the past year and half we have seen a slow down in the sales market which is creating a large supply of rental properties. With greater supply and lower demand it is important for landlords to ensure their product is to current market expectations. We are in a tenant favourable market which allows tenants the opportunity to take their time to view multiple properties and decide which one is right for them. They also have the ability to negotiate the rental prices.
What can a landlord do if their unit is vacant? If you are not in an immediate need to rent the unit this may be a good time to take it off the market for a month or two and complete some upgrades to the unit. How old is the carpet, hard surface flooring or appliances? When was it last painted? Is there anything else that could be upgraded to make it more appealing in the current rental market.
If your unit is currently rented and is at a higher rental rate or close to the current advertised rental rates and your tenant asks for a rent reduction we recommend negotiating a new lease term for your tenant. Current market conditions are causing longer times to find a new tenant for the vacant unit. We are experiencing a minimum of three months to find a tenant. Why is it taking so long?. If a tenant in BC is looking to move they need to provide a calendar month’s notice to their current landlord. That means if they are looking in March then they would need to give the month of April for notice and would be available for May to start a new tenancy. Patience is important in these rental market conditions.
Need help managing your investment properties. Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
Due Diligence
As the rental market slows down we must remind ourselves of the importance of due diligence during the tenant screeding process.
We are finding the potential applicants attending showings look like good prospects, they paint a favourable picture of themselves, but are they good tenants. It is important now more than ever to have a thorough screening process when selecting a new tenant for your rental property.
Cartref Properties has a multiple step process which is not short and quick intentionally to deter bad tenants from following through with the process.
Our process starts with the first contact. When a potential tenant responds to one of our advertisements we request some basic information about who they are. This is the first step of, can they follow our basic instructions. It helps gather information and identifies serious tenants from just looking prospects. If they are willing to share the basic details then they are more often interested in the property.
Upon receiving the basic information provided we determine if the potential tenants meet our expectations. After assessing the information we make arrangements to show the unit to the potential tenants. An appointment is scheduled and we request that they contact us one hour before to confirm their attendance. Our experience is when people don’t waste our time and attend the showing at the assigned time, they are often good tenants. During the showing we are inquiring about them and confirming the details they shared in the request for basic information. On occasion people forget what they have provided us and we find them telling us different details.
If after the showing we find them a suitable potential tenant, then we will request they fillout an application form and submit this along with some information about them including financial details. Upon receipt of the application form we spend time reviewing the details and confirming the accuracy of the information provided. In today’s world it is easy for aperson to provide a mobile number to contact their supervisor. We spend the time to seek out if this person is an employee at the same location, and we contact the company directly to verify the details. It is surprising how often people provide details that are not accurate.
In times of this slow down we are finding more unsuitable tenants seeking new places to rent. Many landlords have their places vacant for multiple months and become desperate and fail to perform proper due diligence. This creates a situation where a landlord now has a tenant in their property who is difficult to remove, or doesn’t pay rent on time.
The longer and more detailed the process the more interested the potential tenant is in the property. Good tenants will answer your inquiries and provide the details you request in order to rent the property. Bad tenants will not complete the information or provide exuses why they are not able to give you what you request. These are signs they are not quality tenants and as a landlord should avoid them. It is important to read past the information and understand the people.
Need help managing your investment properties. Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com
Vacancy Taxes, Do we still need them?
BC has two homes taxes that affect rental housing. The City of Vancouver has the Empty homes tax and the Province of BC has the Speculation Tax which has a similar effect for a majority of the Province.
Both taxes are designed to encourage people to not have their property vacant and have it used for housing either by a home owner or by a tenant. Current market conditions are having a significant effect on the rental market and vacancy rates. Rental rates are declining, while vacancy rates increase, due to the current supply of product exceeding demand. It is taking longer to find a quality tenant due to choices available to tenants. They are not in a rush to select a place. This could lead to your property being vacant past the time limit that the Speculation or Empty homes taxes become effective. Failure to have your property occupied could lead to these taxes being applied to your property.
This begs the question: are these taxes still needed? Maybe it is time for the City of Vancouver to consider removing the empty homes tax and the Province to reduce and or remove the Speculation Tax. The speculation tax is not applied to all areas of the Province at this time. This will only occur if the people make this a priority for the government to remove. The federal government also introduced the underused housing tax in 2024.
With all of these taxes and the current rental market supply and demand is going to push more products to the sales market which will push sales prices of homes down as well. This is what the government would like to see which is why we don’t think there will be any discussion to remove these taxes. The sales market has slowed and products are staying on the market longer than in the past few years. We anticipate the next two years will have the rental market on a downward decline in prices.
Need help managing your investment properties. Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com