By: Hannah Fraser, News Writer
On July 18, the BC government launched a website to “better protect renters from being evicted in bad faith.” When evicting a tenant for landlord use, landlords are now required to use the website to document information, such as who will move in after the eviction. This aims to “standardize the process for improved efficiency while increasing transparency.”
Landlord use is a legal reason landlords may evict contract-abiding tenants, involving the landlord or their family member moving into the unit. However, bad-faith evictions happen when “a rental unit is not used for the purpose stated on the eviction notice for at least 12 months.” For instance, if the landlord does not follow through on occupying the unit and rents it again for a higher price, the original tenants “have the right to compensation.”
The update aims to “ensure that landlords who need to legitimately reclaim their units have a straightforward pathway to do so,” such as providing information on the legal requirements for evictions and the risks of issuing them in bad faith.
The Peak corresponded with Sarah Marsden, director of systems change and legal at First United, for more information. Marsden explained that “BC’s high eviction rate” is attributed to no-fault evictions. No-fault evictions involve tenants being evicted for landlord use or landlord “sell the property, for demolition, conversion, or major repairs.” Marsden noted these evictions “could be financially motivated, which may be a factor in bad faith evictions.”
The Peak also corresponded with a BC Ministry of Housing spokesperson, who said “BC had the highest eviction rate in Canada between 2016 and 2021, and a significantly higher percentage of landlord use evictions than in other jurisdictions,” according to estimates from a 2023 report.
The spokesperson said, “Not all evictions are reported to the BC Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB),” but now the RTB can collect more “accurate data” on evictions.
“We’ve worked tirelessly through our BC Eviction project and systems change work to affect this type of change.” — Amanda Burrows, executive director of First United
Starting July 18, landlords are also required to give tenants more time to dispute an eviction. Tenants now have 30 days instead of 15. In the case of evicting for “personal or caretaker use,” four months’ notice must be given, compared to the original requirement of two months. According to the spokesperson, “recent changes have increased the amount of time a landlord, purchaser, or close family member must occupy a rental unit after ending a tenancy for personal occupancy from six months to 12 months.”
The current penalty for landlords is to “pay the tenant 12 months’ rent if they don’t use property for the intended purpose upon eviction.” The landlord could be fined an additional $5,000 per day if they fail to pay. However, the July 18 legislation opens up the possibility for higher penalties.
“I think we will have to wait and see how penalties are used in the coming months in order to know if they’re likely to be strong enough to deter bad faith evictions,” said Marsden.
“We’ve worked tirelessly through our BC Eviction project and systems change work to affect this type of change,” said Amanda Burrows, executive director of First United, in the press release. The organization’s BC Eviction Mapping project launched in 2022 is a “first of its kind project in BC,” which “seeks to better understand evictions from rental housing across the province and provide evidence for a law reform platform to improve tenant protections in BC.
“There is still work to do and we will continue to advocate for changes to prevent homelessness and displacement because housing is a human right,” continued Burrows. First United has brought the provincial government recommendations centred around amending the Residential Tenancy Act, BC’s law that “outlines BC tenants’ and landlords’ rights and responsibilities.” Recommendations are made with the goals of preventing unnecessary evictions to reduce houselessness and displacement, making eviction a last resort, and improving procedural fairness and appeal rights. The recommendations also focus on promoting diversity and inclusion in housing.
“We see the new portal as being a step in the right direction, as it puts the responsibility on landlords upfront to provide more detailed information about their intended use of the unit,” said Marsden.
The Ministry of Housing spokesperson stated that the “government is aware of the challenges tenants face in finding safe, secure, and affordable housing.”
