Landlords are empowered to increase their tenants' rent by 23.5%

In one of its decisions, the British Columbia Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB) authorized two landlords to increase their tenants' rents by 23.5% over two years, up from the 3.5% authorized for 2024.

there RTBResponsible for resolving disputes between tenants and landlords, it justifies its decision by explaining that, in this particular case, the landlords proved their current financial situation was unviable following an increase in mortgage interest rates.

I believe that the global and economic events that have occurred in response to the pandemic were not reasonably foreseeable and have had an impact on landlords.We can read in the decision. A significant increase in mortgage interest rates has occurred due to unforeseen events.

This decision was announced last May (new window) (in English) and allowed landlords to increase the rent of four units by 2024 by nearly seven times the province-mandated annual limit of 3.5%.

there RTB The tenants and owners have not been named to protect their identities.