Maximum rent hike capped at 1.5 per cent for 2022

B.C.’s maximum allowable rent increase amount for next year is being set at 1.5 per cent, based on inflation.

The increase cannot take effect prior to next Jan. 1, and landlords must provide three months’ notice to tenants of any increases.

A rent freeze which was enacted by the B.C. government at the start of the pandemic will be in effect until the end of this year.

A B.C. government news release said the 2022 maximum allowable rent increase is significantly less than what it would have been prior to changes made by the province in 2018 that limited rent increases to inflation.

“Prior to that change, maximum rent increases could include an additional 2 per cent on top of inflation. This change has saved families hundreds of dollars,” the release stated.

B.C. landlords can only increase rent once annually, if they choose to increase rent at all.

The province also recently banned illegal renovictions — evictions to complete renovations to a property — by requiring landlords to apply to the Residential Tenancy Branch for pre-approval before ending a tenancy.

Other details:

* If a landlord served a tenant with a notice of rent increase that takes effect in 2021, it is null and void and the tenant does not have to pay it.

* The maximum allowable rent increase is defined by the 12-month average per cent change in the all-items Consumer Price Index for B.C. ending in July the year prior to the calendar year for which a rent increase takes effect.
For example, if a rent increase takes effect in 2022, the maximum allowable rent increase is the 12-month average per cent change in the all-items Consumer Price Index for B.C. ending in July 2021.

* The 2022 maximum increase for manufactured home park tenancies will be 1.5 per cent, plus a proportional amount for the change in local government levies and regulated utility fees.

* The rent increase does not include commercial tenancies, non-profit housing tenancies where rent is geared to income, co-operative housing and some assisted-living facilities.