Philip Davies 9/11/26 Philip Davies 9/11/26

Fixed Term Tenancies

Recently I was watching a video about rental and how the government has killed the market. A number of issues were raised including changes in 2017 to the fixed term rental agreement.

In December of 2017 the BC government changed the fixed term lease agreement requirements. Prior to this time a landlord and tenant could enter into a fixed term tenancy agreement with the agreement requiring the tenant vacate the rental unit at the end of the fixed term. If the tenants vacated the unit a landlord was free to re-rent the property to a new tenant at the current market rent.

This created a market where landlords would sign a one year agreement with a tenant and at the end of the agreement landlords would force tenants to sign a new agreement at a significantly higher rental rate. This put all the power in the landlords hands determining rental rates in the market. Tenants were in the position of having to move regularly creating unstable housing for renters.

For the above reasons the BC Government changed the law around fixed term tenancies. What changed? Two things changed affecting the fixed term agreements.

Now at the start of the tenancy a landlord must indicate on the agreement if they or a close family member are going to move into the unit at the end of the fixed term. If they indicate they are not going to move in then the agreement automatically becomes a month to month agreement at the end of the fixed term. Requiring the landlord or a family member to move in eliminated purpose built rental properties from evicting tenants at the end of a fixed term rental agreement.

Why were these changes made? As mentioned the landlord held all the power in the negotiations between the two parties. Some landlords would purposely rent just below market conditions to secure a tenant and then after the fixed term increase the rent by 25 - 75% or more. As mentioned this made it difficult for tenants to find affordable housing for long periods of time. The BC Government listened to tenants complaining that housing was difficult when every year you had to move to find a new place you could afford. They elected to change the rules regarding fixed term tenancies. Requiring the agreement to convert to a month to month agreement provided stability for tenants for longer term housing.

After this change was made many landlords found loop holes as they do to circumvent this rule. Landlords would indicate they were going to move in as per the requirements and then re-rent the property shortly after the tenants moved out. Even for month to month tenancies landlords were giving notice to evict tenants for family use and not moving into the property.

Due to these actions the BC government would later add punitive damages to the eviction process for wrongfully evicting a tenant for family use. These situations were exacerbated during covid with rent increasing rapidly and landlords trying to take advantage of the issue the government increased the punitive damages.

There are many reasons that one could suggest why this action was taken. For many years Canada, BC and the lower mainland had restricted the number of purpose built rental properties developed. In 2010 the Strata Property Act was changed requiring all new properties identify how long a strata lot can be a rental property. New developments quickly changed to identify new strata lots for periods of time in excess of 100 years. This created a two tier system with the majority of properties purchased after 2010 entering the rental market as investor owned units. By 2017 the number of strata lots rented increased dramatically in the Vanouver market. This created a large numer of landlords with no experience being a landlord.

As with many of the current tenancy laws that landlords complain about they have mostly been derived out of abuse or neglect of tenants rights. When landlords fail to follow the law it is easy for them to end up at the tenancy branch in hearing. Often these cases do side with the tenants when landlords have failed to respect a tenants rights.

Recently I was asked about attending the RTB, my reply was we have not had to as we tend to emphasize the screening process, and the in tenant relations to ensure a positive outcome for both parties.

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

Philip Davies 9/4/26 Philip Davies 9/4/26

What is subletting?

The other day I was talking to my son about renting in BC. The topic was about subletting a unit. Many people misunderstand what subletting is under BC law.

He understood subletting to be when one person rents a property then rents out the spare room they are subletting the space. I explained to him this is incorrect.

In BC there are two terms in the tenancy laws that are interpreted incorrectly. Both involve the tenant who resides at the property to vacate the unit. The difference between the two terms is what happens after the tenant vacates the unit.

When a tenant signs a tenancy agreement they are obligated to stay to the end of the term of that agreement. Most tenancies start with a one year agreement then become month to month after that period. If a tenant is in a term agreement and wants to leave before the end of the term then they can ask the landlord to either sublet or assign the agreement.

What is subletting?. Simply put subletting is when a tenant vacates the tenancy for a period of time and is planning to return to the unit. If a person is offered a temporary job which requires them to move for three months for the work then they can replace themselves in the tenancy by subletting the unit. This means after a period of time they will return to the unit. This is what subletting a rental in BC means.

What is assigning? When a tenant is in a tenancy and this time they are offered a job in another city, except in this situation there is no time frame of when they are going to return then they can assign the unit to a new tenant. When you assign the tenancy to a new tenant they take over the tenancy and they become the new tenant.

Many people think renting the second or third room is subletting. In BC that is just simply having a roommate, and roommates are not covered under BC tenancy law. If you are renting a room from a person and your name is not on the lease you are considered a roommate. The person you are paying the rent to is the tenant and they are responsible for the tenancy. We have seen in the past where a roommate is paying the tenant rent, and the tenant is not paying the landlord the rent causing all parties to be evicted for non-payment of rent.

When you are assigned the tenancy then you do become the tenant and obtain all the rights of a tenant under the tenancy act. It is important for tenants to understand the difference between subletting and assignment.

In the standard BC tenancy agreement it states a tenant can assign or sublet the agreement if there is 6 months or more remaining in the fixed term of the agreement. A landlord must not unreasonably restrict the sublet or assignment. For an assignment if the tenant is on a month to month agreement there is no need for the landlord to approve an assignment of the tenancy. In a month to month tenancy the tenant would just give notice to vacate and end the tenancy, as they are not expected to return to the unit.

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

Philip Davies 8/28/26 Philip Davies 8/28/26

Radical ways to fix housing costs

As a property manager I am often asked what is wrong with the housing market, especially the rental market. I don’t truly have the answer though I do have a few radical ideas I would suggest be implemented to deal with it in the future.

I hear young people say housing is too expensive, and older people say I would downsize but I want to stay in my home or in my neighbourhood. These two issues have a common denominator. We have not built the correct housing to meet the needs of the market, and we continue doing this.

What is the wrong housing? Housing needs to meet the needs of the residents in the area the housing is built. This is different for every province, city or region of Canada. What works in Downtown Vancouver is not going to work in Winkler Manitoba.

Step one then means we should not have a federal housing policy. The federal intervention should relate to funding only and let the provinces, and regions develop what works for them.

Having said that there are two policies one federal and one regional that should be changed to help build the right product.

The first one is reverse mortgages. These should be eliminated. The basic premises of the reverse mortgage is based on a person who can’t afford to live in the property they currently own. In our great wisdom to help these people stay where they are, we have said why not go into debt to continue to live where you are. The only people who truly benefit from the reverse mortgages are the lenders creating the debt. What individuals fail to understand is they are not just creating debt for the person who owns the property, possibly for their descendants as well. If we eliminate the reverse mortgage people would be required to sell the property they live at and move elsewhere. Often they are staying in homes that are larger than they need. This would free up larger homes for people who are in need of that product, mostly young families. It would also force developers to build other products to meet the needs of the people selling these homes.

The second factor is basement suites. Basement suites have the same effect as the reverse mortgage. It provides a person or party who doesn’t need or can’t afford the property they live in to continue to reside at the property. If a person or family buys a home with a basement suite it means they did not need that size of house. Similar to the retired person who doesn’t want to move, they are living in a home that is not the right size for them. I don’t have any issue with the size of house you live in, my point is if you need assistance from a reverse mortgage or basement suite to afford the home you can afford that home.

By eliminating basement suites then more houses, particularly family size homes would enter the market.

The third problem that affects housing costs is the amount of rental properties in the market. If people have the option to rent at market price they can delay buying until they are ready to settle in a place.

Our current housing policies and building is based on people buying a home and living in it for a long time, which is what happened 20, 30 or 40 years ago. A number of things have changed over the years, including a decrease in the number of kids families are having, the number of times people change jobs, divorce rates and immigration.

Young people today are not staying in a job as long and not only are they changing jobs they are able to move from city to city, or provice and even a new country. What this means is that more people today are more nomadic since the industrial revolution. If people are nomadic why are we trying to build properties that are designed for people and families to live in long term. The amount of rental properties developed in Canada in the past thirty years has not kept pace with the growing nomadic demand. The biggest problem with this is a home with a basement suite can be sold to a new owner and take that rental product out of the market. That decreases supply and increases rental prices. The developers love only building homes to sell for this reason.

How do you have developers build more rental housing, make it a part of the permission to build other properties. For every three homes or condos they build they must build a rental unit as well.

These are hard to implement and would have a drastic effect on the market immediately including decreasing the price of homes that seniors were counting on to use the equity for their retirement. Selling their home and moving to a smaller less costly property allows them to use that equity they built up without using debt to access it.

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

Philip Davies 8/21/26 Philip Davies 8/21/26

Move in Fees

Stop using tenants as a source of income for your Strata?

Why do strata still over charge for move-in/ move-out fees?

Every time we rent a property in a condo our tenants are responsible for paying the move in and move out fees. Most of the buildings have a move in fee only and few have a move out fee as well.

What surprises us to this day is the amount of the fees that buildings are charging, and when asked the reasons they provide for changing those fees.

Recently we have had two different situations where buildings have charged move out fees. The first one charged it automatically on the move even though the builing bylaws did not have a move-out fee. It took 17 emails back and forth with the strata manager to reverse the fees to our owners account as the strata withdrew the funds from their account.

A more recent one was the application of the move out fee and a fine for the tenant not booking the move out. When we asked about the amount of the move out fee, $250 and what it is for we were surprised by the response from the strata manager.

Below here is the response:

“the move out fee is for elevator use: booking, locking off the elevator, and hanging protective wall pads. As well as common wear and tear: Extra scuffs, dents, or heavy traffic in the lobby, doors, and hallways.”

This reply surprises us as this is what is wrong with the strata management industry. The CRT was created in 2012 with the intention of creating a quicker way to solve disputes between strata and owners, contractors, tenants or other parties interacting with a strata without the need to go to court. The problem is many strata are not reviewing what the decisions are in the CRT. If they reviewed the decisions they would correct the way they manage their buildings, instead they are not changing and leaving the ownness on the owner or tenant to challenge them in the CRT. For a strata this can lead to excessive cost for a very minor issue.

There have been many cases brought to the CRT regarding move in and move out fees and their applications. All of them have had the same ruling that the fees must be “reasonable” and the funds must be used for specific reasons. For example hanging blankets in the elevator to protect the elevator is a specific use during the moving process and can be associated with a moving fee. Identifying that you are collecting funds for “common wear and tear” during the move to complete repairs has been identified as an item that can’t be part of the move in or move out fee.

Strata corporations are continuing to use the move in and move out fees to collect funds from tenants who don’t cause any damage to the common property. The move fee is not supposed to be a revenue source for the property. As Strata regulation 6.9 points out fees for common area usage fees must be reasonable and set out in a bylaw. A move out fee doesn’t set out that the fees are for reparing or painting the common area of the building, they are for moving.

What then is a reasonable cost for a move out fee. How long does it take the staff to hang blankets at the building?. The recent issue we had the bylaw indicates the move out must be requested five days in advance. The reasoning for this presumably is to provide time for people involved to attend to the building and put up the blankets. The five days insinuates that the people are not at the property every day and will perform this task the next time they are at the property. Therefore there would be no cost for travel time to and from the building as they are already planning to attend. Is $25, $50, $100 or $250 the correct amount to charge for hanging blankets in the elevator?

At this property the building has a move in and move out fee of $250 for each move. That is a total of $500 for an occupant of the building. We find this an excessive amount for a move in and out of the building. Other buildings charge more and provide even less services. We have seen some buildings charging larger fees but they provide security guards to watch the front door while the move in or out is occurring to protect the security of the building. That would make the fee being charged legitimate.

We challenge all strata managers and councils to review CRT cases and see what is reasonable for your buildings’ move in/out fee. If they are unreasonable, adjust them.

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

Philip Davies 8/14/26 Philip Davies 8/14/26

Who is responsible for that?

We are often asked by our clients who is responsible for the repair of specific items in the property. Generally speaking the landlord is responsible for most repairs of the property. If you are unsure a good place to look is the RTB website and review the policy guidelines. Policy Guideline GL1-1 outlines tenant and landlord responsibilities for repairs.

One of the more common questions we are asked by clients is what about smoke detectors?. The owner is responsible for the smoke detector and the batteries. There are times when other people are involved in the maintenance of the smoke detector.

In strata condos the smoke detector will be connected to the main building system and the strata will annually come and test the smoke detector to ensure it is functioning correctly. This doesn’t mean they will replace it if it is defective. The unit is still inside the strata lot meaning it is an owner’s responsibility to repair. If the unit is identified as being faulty during the strata testing some buildings will arrange for it to be changed. There may be a cost to the owner for this or the strata may just inform you and it is your respnsibiflity to replace the faulty unit. Some stratas have taken the step of creating a bylaw that makes them responsible for the smoke detector which means it is their responsibility to repair and minatian, this is rare.

Buildings often buy large quantities of detectors to provide to owners to allow them to obtain one quickly if it needs to be replaced. It is part of the bylaws that you, the owner or the tenant must provide access for the strata to test the unit annually. A tenant becomes responsible for this when they sign the form K which requires them to follow the bylaws and access for the testing is part of the bylaws.

If your unit is a Townhouse the stata may come and test the device or they may not. Our experience is most townhouses do not do insuite testing. This is because in most townhouse buildings the systems are not connected meaning each unit’s smoke detectors only set off their own and do not engage other unit devices like in condo buildings. Again the devices are inside the unit which means they fall under the responsibility of the owner to repair and maintain the devices. In the townhouse there will be multiple units and they are often connected to each other. If one is faulty it may trigger the other to sound to indicate an issue needs attention. The unit will be hard wired to the electrical wiring of the townhouse.

If you own a house you may not have hard wired devices, newer homes do but many older houses don’t. It is still a requirement for the landlord to provide devices in these properties. They would be battery operated only. It is good practice to ensure the property has multiple devices depending on the size of the property.

In all of the above situations it is a requirement for them to be working during a tenancy. Similar to a furnace if they are never used the batteries would never be used. This is not like the light bulb though as they must be in working order which makes it the landlords responsibility to ensure they are in good working order. This includes that the back up battery is functioning. Batteries don’t last long. Fire departments suggest changing them annually to ensure they are working when needed. It is good pactice to provide the tenant with the batteries to ensure they are able to change them. That being said, there are buildings with very tall ceilings and you can’t reach the device without a ladder and in some condos a tenant may not have a ladder tall enough to reach the unit to change the battery.

Policy Guidline GL1-1

Smoke Detectors 1. If there are smoke detectors, or if they are required by law, the landlord must install and keep smoke alarms in good working condition. Regular maintenance includes: • annual inspection of the system • annual cleaning and testing of the alarm • replacing batteries at least annually and according to the manufacturer's instructions. 2. The tenant must not prevent the smoke alarm from working by taking out batteries and leaving them out, or by replacing them with batteries that are dead or the wrong size. For their own safety and the safety of others, the tenant must tell the landlord when a smoke alarm needs new batteries, or that it seems to need to be repaired or replaced.

The smoke detector is avabluable part of the fire safety system and needs to be working when needed. Don’t leave it up to the tenant to ensure the unit is faulty.

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