Renters in B.C. are being gouged

Re: “Premier names rental task force in push to reform tenancy laws,” April 11. Compared with other Canadian provinces, renters in B.C. are being gouged. With all the idle chatter about affordable housing, our government gave landlords in 2018 the right to increase rents by four per cent, the largest increase in five years.

Ontario has rent controls on units built before 1991, with some exceptions. The Ontario cap for 2018 is 1.8 per cent; Manitoba 1.3 per cent; Quebec 0.5 per cent to 1.9 per cent; New Brunswick 2.5 per cent; Nova Scotia 0.8 per cent; and P.E.I. 1.5 per cent. And then there’s B.C. at 4.0 per cent.

As renters, we get no breaks; we didn’t get the promised $400 renters’ rebate; we don’t quality for government grants; and we don’t get an opportunity to defer our rent the way homeowners can defer their taxes. That $400 rebate wouldn’t cover the annual increase in my rent, but it would have helped.

A four per cent rent increase is particularly hard on seniors. It’s time the government stopped doing studies and started looking at providing some financial relief.

Things to consider: Follow Ontario’s lead and freeze rents in pre1991 buildings; give us the renters’ rebate; allow us to claim a portion of our rent as an expense with a tax credit; answer our emails; stop talking and start acting on this issue, as many of us are truly worried about where and how we are going to live with these annual rent increases. Doris V. Young Victoria