CORRECTION: British Columbia to implement residential tenancy changes in July

The B.C. government will implement residential tenancy changes on July 18th, 2024 after legislation was changed earlier this year to better protect people from bad-faith evictions.

“While most landlords and tenants play by the rules and have respectful relationships, too many people in B.C. are still facing unfair rent hikes and evictions under false pretenses,” said Premier David Eby in a press release. 

The changes include increasing the amount of notice a tenant receives, and the amount of time they have to dispute an eviction.

Under the new rules, landlords will now be required to provide tenants with four months’ notice for evictions, up from the current requirement of two months.

Tenants will have 30 days to dispute notices to end a tenancy, extended from 15 days, and landlords found to be ending a tenancy in bad faith could be ordered to pay the displaced tenant 12 months’ worth of rent.

The B.C. government will also be launching a Landlord Use Web Portal to give renters better protections from landlords and bad faith evictions. 

Landlords will be required to use the portal when issuing notices to end tenancy for personal or caretaker use, with a unique notice ID when ending a tenancy.

“With this new tool, we’re taking action to better protect tenants from being evicted under false pretences and ensure that landlords who need to legitimately reclaim their units have a straightforward pathway to do so,” said Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon.

Kahlon says the website will also allow the government to better understand how often bad faith evictions occur in order to improve services. 

According to the Canadian Press, a B.C. seniors advocate says landlords are ignoring legislation at their facilities, leaving seniors facing annual cost increases, and is calling for more enforcement of tenancy laws.

The Ministry of Housing made changes to residential tenancy regulations in January to increase safety for supportive housing residents.

According to its website, the provincial government’s residential tenancy branch provides information, resources, and dispute-resolution services for tenants and landlords.

Energeticcity.ca previously reported that the City of Fort St. John was to implement residential tenancy changes in July. This is not true, the residential changes are to be conducted by the Provincial Government of British Columbia. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.