Short Term Rentals?

Short Term Rentals?

In the past landlords often rented to student tenants by signing an eight month lease the length of the school year and the students would go home for the summer.

We still hear of landlords doing these short term agreements or wanting to have time limited agreements where the tenant vacates the property.  These types of tenancies are illegal in BC today and a tenancy agreement with a clause to vacate requires the owner move back into the property. 

A landlord is allowed to have a fixed term tenancy agreement. Any fixed term agreement must end in one of two ways. On the standard BC tenancy agreement there is a section that the landlord must indicate how the fixed term tenancy expires.  If the landlord selects box C indicating it is a fixed term they then must identify either box D which indicates the tenancy will continue on a month to month basis, or they select box E which requires the tenant to vacate the rental unit. 

What many landlords fail to understand is that if they select box E it means a specified party must move into the unit. In this circumstance the specified person is identified in section 49 of the tenancy act, which states a family member, meaning the owner’s parents, spouse or children of the parents or spouse must occupy the unit. This is called personal use of the rental property. 

This part of the act was changed in 2017 yet we continue to hear landlords who are signing tenancy agreements for specified terms with an expectation for the tenant to vacate the unit in six, eight or twelve months. We are often asked if we can find a tenant to meet these standards and clients are surprised when we inform them this is not legal in BC. If you create a tenancy agreement with this clause and the tenant elects to stay past the date you were expecting them to vacate the property, the landlord has no right to evict them. 

It is these situations that have landlords ending up at the RTB in a hearing and the tenant being awarded the equivalent of a year’s rent to compensate them for illegally vacating them from the property. We recommend landlords use the standard BC tenancy agreement then have a lease addendum along with the standard agreement. Using the standard agreement gives both landlords and tenants the ability to clearly understand what the expectations are for the property. Using the BC form also means landlords are meeting the requirements of a tenancy agreement in BC.

If you are unsure of the laws for renting your property we encourage you to hire a professional to assist you with managing your property.   

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