B.C. tackling 'bad-faith evictions,' banning rent hikes for having babies

The B.C. government has proposed new tenancy protections designed to prevent some "unfair rent increases" and "bad-faith evictions," officials announced Tuesday.

The amendments to the Residential Tenancy Act include new restrictions on landlord's use evictions and measure to stop property owners from hiking rent when tenants bring a new baby – or any child under the age of 19 – into their home.

"We know the vast majority of landlords and renters play by the rules," Premier David Eby said at a news conference in Victoria. "But it's not always the case, and unfortunately the reality is that we need to continue to take action."

One of the key issues the amendments aim to address is landlords evicting tenants under false pretenses – a problem that advocates say has skyrocketed since the province cracked down on so-called "renovictions" in 2021.

"There's a significant number of people in the province that are paying below market rents," Eby said. "They're protected by our limits on rent increases, and there is a huge temptation on the part of some landlords to evict those tenants and replace them with another tenant that would be paying a much higher market rate."

The NDP government's proposal would ban landlord's use evictions entirely from purpose-built rental buildings with at least five units.

It would also increase the amount of notice a landlord must provide before evicting a tenant for personal use, and increase the amount of time the landlord must occupy the space following such an eviction from six months to 12 months.

Another measure would require property owners to use a government web portal to generate a landlord's use eviction notice – which would inform them of penalties of misuse, standardize the notices themselves, and allow for "post-eviction compliance audits," according to the Ministry of Housing.

The protections for parents could also save some families thousands of dollars a year.

Eby pointed to a recent case of a B.C. couple who were told their rent would increase $600 a month after their child was born.

"The legislature will address those issues, making sure that if you have a kid and you're a renter, you're not going to see a significant rent increase," Eby said.

Landlords would still be able to increase new parents' rent by the annual allowable amount determined by the province – which was set at 3.5 per cent in 2024 – but no more.

Andrew Sakamoto with the Tenant Resource Advisory Centre says he’s happy the government is taking action but would have liked to have seen "more."

Sakamoto says the government has done well in cracking down on ‘renovictions’ and hopes the new rules impact the personal use exemption. However, he believes more protection is needed from all forms of eviction.

“Let’s make landlords bring evidence to the residential tenancy branch and prove their case if they want to evict their tenant,” said Sakamoto. “We need to switch the burden. Flip the burden, to do a little more work to evict a tenant.”

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon noted the government has also been working to help landlords, including by increasing staffing at the Residential Tenancy Branch so that disputes can be resolved faster.

Overall wait times have been reduced by more than half since November 2022, according to the province, and there has been an even bigger reduction for cases involving unpaid rent, which can now be put through an expedited process.

"We're seeing a 57 per cent drop in wait times for unpaid rent, which is substantial and very important," Kahlon said.

One landlord advocate tells CTV News he’s disappointed with the province’s announcement.

“So we’re just asking for fairness and equality,” said Baldeep Jhand, founder of the Landlord Rights Association of BC. “But the government keeps doing things to make the tenants happy. That’s all they’re doing.”

Jhand says the Province isn’t using its power to protect landlords who’ve suffered financially at the hands of bad-faith tenants who either refuse to pay rent or damage the rented property.

The previously announced Money Judgment Enforcement Act is also taking effect next year, and will make it easier for people who win tenancy dispute hearings to get the money they're owed, officials said.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Kevin Charach