Too many evictions for renos

It’s an all too familiar term on P.E.I. – renovictions.

One recent renoviction casualty is Charlottetown resident Jeff Gallant, who received an eviction notice two months ago from his Fitzroy Street apartment landlord.

As of Saturday, Gallant had the unenviable task of trying to find a new place to live in a city with a low vacancy rate and where online apartment listings are often already gone by the time you pick up the phone to call. If you are lucky enough to find a place, the rent is likely beyond your affordability.

The concern is that renovations are being used as a way to evict tenants, and then re-offer the rental unit at a higher price than what is allowable.

The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission’s regulations say that owners can evict someone if they or family members plan to occupy the rental property, or if they plan to convert that property into other uses. Owners can also demolish the property altogether. In terms of renovations, someone can be evicted if it is determined that the renovations are to the extent that they cannot be done while the property is still occupied.

One thing we know about renovation plans is they don’t always end up the way they started. It’s fair to ask if anyone follows up to ensure that the final renovations still met the requirement that a tenant had to vacate?

The other question is does anyone keep track of the unit to ensure that once the renovations are completed, that it is rented out again in line with IRAC’s allowable rent increases and not jacked up beyond what is allowed?

These follow ups need to happen to make sure that renovations aren’t being used as a way to sidestep the regulations in order to evict tenants.

Of course, owners should be allowed to renovate and improve their rental properties.

But renovations should be for the benefit of current tenants, not at their expense.

Renovations should also be conducted so that they do not require the tenant to vacate for an unreasonable amount of time, and only if tenants have temporary accommodations while the work is being done.

Afterwards, tenants should be allowed to move back in.

More extensive renovations should only be done over longer periods of time to accommodate the tenant or if the rental unit is already vacant because the tenant freely decided to move out.

The province is doing its part helping Islanders with rent subsidies and plans to build significantly more affordable housing units.

Over time, these new builds will increase the supply of housing, give tenants more options and hopefully lower prices through increased competition.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the practice around renovations and evictions also need some renovations.

Quite simply, we need a system in place that prioritizes people, not property.