Below is a summary of provincial legislation introduced to amend British Columbia’s Residential Tenancy Act.
The Bill received royal assent on May 16, 2024 and the government recently provided updated information on new rules for landlords and tenants that will come into effect on July 18, 2024.
The amendments centre around evictions for personal occupancy of a rental unit.
● Personal occupancy means the landlord or a close family member of the landlord (i.e., a parent, spouse or child, or the parent or child of a spouse) intends to occupy the unit.
● The amendments also apply to rental units listed for sale and will impact buyers who intend on living in the unit, creating additional considerations at the time of purchase and extending the earliest date at which they could move into their new home.
The Amendments
● Effective July 18, landlords (or the purchaser in such circumstances) will have to give a tenant a minimum four months’ notice when ending a tenancy for personal occupancy, up from two months previously.
● Standardized eviction notices will need to be generated through a new web portal that will offer landlords guidance on rules around evictions prior to issuing notice. Evictions for personal occupancy that are issued without use of the web portal will be considered void.
● Landlords will be required to share information on the tenants moving into the unit and a unique ID will be generated allowing the Residential Tenancy Branch to conduct post-eviction audits.
● Upon the end of a tenancy for personal occupancy, the landlord or their close family member must occupy the rental unit for a minimum of 12 months, up from six months previously.
● Upon receiving the termination notice, the tenant will now have 30 days to dispute the notice, up from 15 days previously.
● Evictions for personal occupancy will now be prohibited in purpose-built rental buildings with five or more units.
● Evictions for the purpose of converting a rental unit to specific non-residential uses will now be prohibited.
● Note that the existing notice period of 4 months that is required for demolitions, major renovations, and permitted conversions remains unchanged.
The Penalties
● The existing penalties around evictions for personal occupancy remain. The landlord is required to pay the tenant one month of rent before the effective date of the notice.
● The landlord will be required to pay the tenant 12 months of rent should they fail to abide by the minimum four months’ eviction notice requirement and/or fail to occupy the rental unit for a minimum 12 months following the eviction date.
