The tenants who won’t be bought
In Vancouver, landlords are increasingly offering thousands of dollars to get tenants to move before a renovation — a practice dubbed ‘renoviction.’ With rents soaring, the tenants are fighting back
VANCOUVER— For the tenants in six apartment buildings in New Westminster and Vancouver, it started with hearing their building had been sold to a new owner, and a new management company called VS Rentals would be taking over.
Then came the buyout offers: a one-time payout of $2,500, plus $500 moving expenses, if they left immediately.
If the tenants didn’t take the buyout offer, an eviction notice was the next step because the new owner planned to renovate all the apartments.
The tenants were offered the right to return after renovations were complete — but at nearly double the rent.
The stress sent 74-year-old Ida Bartha to the hospital with an attack of vertigo, while Ruth Thompson, also 74, described through tears how “I hardly sleep anymore” since the rumours about “renoviction” and the pressure to move out started a few months ago.
Robert Webster, 68, currently pays $950 a month and has a fixed income of $2,500 a month.
The new owners of his building have told him that if he ends his current tenancy, he could move back when the building is renovated and pay $1,700 a month — representing 68 per cent of his income.
The cheapest apartment he was able to find listed for rent in New Westminster was $1,400.
Meanwhile, Thompson makes just $1,600 a month — not enough to cover the new rent amount.
“Can they just throw me out? I don’t want to be evicted. I’m scared.”
The tactic of offering renovation buyouts has become increasingly popular in the Vancouver region’s extremely tight rental market, where rents have risen by 13 per cent since 2016 and landlords can charge hundreds more when tenants move out.
Building owners who plan to demolish or renovate buildings typically offer tenants between $2,000 to $5,000 to leave voluntarily — and before getting an eviction notice.
Landlords who use buyouts say the offers are voluntary and give tenants extra time to search for a new place.
The New Westminster rental buildings Bartha, Webster and Thompson live in are part of a large-scale eviction attempt the Vancouver Tenants Union has been helping tenants to fight.
All the buildings are managed by VS Rentals, which corporate records show shares a business address with a property developer called Coltric Properties.
Through a holding company, Coltric owns both the buildings Webster, Bartha and Thompson live in, according to land title and corporate records.
Reached by telephone at VS Rentals’ business address, an employee confirmed the company had received StarMetro’s detailed list of questions but declined to comment for this story.
The company later told Postmedia it will change its business practices and allow tenants to stay while the building is being renovated or move back in.
When StarMetro called VS Rentals to confirm the information, the company refused to comment.
The plight of vulnerable renters like Thompson, Bartha and Webster has spurred a provincial government review while several municipal governments are also examining the issue.
On Tuesday, Vancouver city council unanimously passed a motion to better protect renters. It changes the city’s tenant relocation and protection guidelines to require landlords to offer tenants to temporarily move out to accommodate renovations without ending the tenancy. The city will now also track all apartment buildings sold.
As soon as a sale happens, it will mail information to tenants in those buildings informing them of their rights.
To address the growing trend of landlords offering tenants buyouts to move out without going through an eviction attempt, the city will also explore measures “to regulate and publicly register all tenants buyouts.”
But council voted to refer several parts of the motion to staff to get more information, including a section calling on the province to implement vacancy control.
Vacancy control would mean that the rent could not be raised by an unlimited amount after a tenant moves out.
Landlord and developer groups have warned that implementing vacancy control could halt new rental projects.
“We sent a signal that we need to control this crisis, and once we get our vacancy rate back up to a healthy rate, we can revisit industry’s concerns,” said Coun. Pete Fry.
Whether landlords have the right to evict tenants in order to renovate is a matter of debate right now in British Columbia.
A recent B.C. Supreme Court ruling found that a landlord should not necessarily have to end a tenancy in order to renovate when the tenant is willing to accommodate the renovation.
That decision, which is now being appealed, resulted in a provincial government guidance in May to the Residential Tenancy Branch. Since May, Residential Tenancy Branch arbitrators have frequently cited the guidance in decisions that have denied landlords’ attempts to evict tenants in order to renovate.
But landlords disagree with the judgment, and say B.C.’s Residential Tenancy Act is contradictory on the subject.
Jon Stovell, the president of Reliance Properties, said allowing tenants to stay while a building is being renovated will mean landlords will simply stop investing in aging buildings.
Lorna Allen and Sarah Mayer are two of just three tenants who remain in their West End building on Burnaby St.
After refusing a $2,000 buyout from VS Rentals, Allen and Mayer got an eviction notice, which they disputed at the Residential Tenancy Branch.
The arbitrator ruled in their favour and cited the B.C. Supreme Court guidance, saying that “the landlord has failed to provide sufficient evidence that the (renovation) work, although ‘extensive,’ cannot be achieved through proper planning and scheduling.”
Allen and Mayer’s elation was shortlived, however, because they received a second eviction notice from VS Rentals.
Then, shortly before the city council motion was passed on Tuesday, Allen and Mayer learned that the company had withdrawn that notice.
“I can finally sleep at night,” Allen said of her landlord’s decision.
The mayors of New Westminster and Vancouver say they are both planning to step up efforts to help support tenants.
Jonathan Cote, mayor of New Westminster, said city staff try to reach out to tenants when they hear a building has changed hands to let tenants know what their rights are.
While Vancouver’s previous city council had already approved hiring a social planner position to assist renters, Mayor Kennedy Stewart would like to explore also hiring a legal expert.
“I’ve seen folks, they’re given documents to sign that actually extinguishes their rights, but it’s not explained to them in that way — and that’s really the problem,” Stewart said before Tuesday’s vote.
Kevin Love, the lawyer who argued the Supreme Court case, said the ruling was a reminder to landlords: “The criteria in the act have been there for a long time, and this is not the first case that has said when ending the tenancy isn’t necessary, you shouldn’t end the tenancy.”
It’s also a reminder to tenants, Love added: “They do have rights and they don’t have to give up.”
Thompson is hopeful that with the help of the Vancouver Tenants Union, she and her neighbours will be able to stay. But she’s still terrified of losing her home.
“I hope I don’t get stuck at the end and have them say, ‘You have to get out,’ ” Thompson said.
“Where do I go from there?”