Task Force to Review British Columbia Tenancy Laws; New Rules for Mobile Home Tenants

by | Apr 23, 2018 | Rental Property Management Tips

A full review of British Columbia’s residential tenancy laws is underway. Premier Horgan has appointed a Rental Housing Task Force to recommend changes to the current rules.

“Our laws haven’t kept up with the changing housing market, and that has left both renters and landlords vulnerable,” Horgan says in a prepared statement.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing adds that changes to residential tenancy laws over the last eight months — including efforts on affordability, ending fixed-term leasing, and reducing wait times for dispute resolution — have been significant improvements, but more is needed to protect renters and to encourage more landlords to increase the number of rental homes.

The three-member task force will solicit input from renters and landlords in B.C., and review tenancy laws from other jurisdictions. Members are expected to work through the summer and make recommendations in the fall. The focus will be “identifying options to improve security and fairness for both renters and landlords” while looking at affordability. The task force also will look at “innovative approaches” from outside the province.

New Protections for Mobile Home Tenants

British Columbia is proposing new rules for evicting mobile home tenants when converting or closing a mobile home park.

The proposed changes include increasing the amount of compensation that is owed to tenants:

Who have been given notice to end a tenancy to convert a mobile home park;
If the landlord gives notice but doesn’t complete the conversion; and
If a mobile home cannot be relocated.

Additional provisions will ensure the effective date of a 12-month notice to end a tenancy is the same for all tenancy agreements under the act, and clarify that tenants who are unable to relocate their manufactured homes are not responsible for disposal costs.

The proposed changes are designed to cover tenants’ moving costs, loss of equity, and loss of affordability. According to Hugh Chown of Penticton and District Manufactured Home Owners Association, it can cost $15,000 to relocate a home, assuming there’s a place to move it to.

The draft legislation is expected to be introduced this month.

The government says these changes are part of its 30-point plan for the housing market.

This post is provided by Tenant Verification Service, Inc., helping landlords reduce the risks of renting with fraud prevention tools that include Tenant Screening, Tenant Background Checks, (U.S. and Canada), as well as Criminal Background Checks, and Eviction Reports (U.S. only).

Click Here to Receive Landlord Credit Reports.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.

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